The Devil You Know
by Never Trust A Fox
Summary: (UNDERGOING REVISION 26/06/17) Harry Potter is the Boy-Who-Lived, he is also the twin brother to Althea Potter. Growing up they have only ever had each other, now they are headed for Hogwarts where Harry is hailed as a hero. Will Althea fade into the background or will she forge her own path? When "Family Above All" slowly seems to be forgotten, where will she stand?
1. Chapter 1

_'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches, Born to those who have thrice defied him, Born as the seventh month dies, And the Dark Lord shall mark him as his equal... But he will have power the Dark Lord knows not, And either must die at the hand of the other, For neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...'_

That twice accursed prophecy set in motion a series of events that effectively altered their lives forever, Lily Potter thought bitterly as she gazed down into the crib that held her sleeping infants. They were so young, so tiny and yet there was already so much terror in their lives.

Harry James Potter had been born on July 31st at 11:56pm while his sister, Althea Lily Potter had been born mere minutes later at 12:06am, technically on August 1st.

"Oh, my little ones, I am so sorry." Lily whispered, her knuckles turning white as she clenched the side of the crib, her head bowed.

"Lily-Flower?" James Potter murmured softly as he entered the nursery, moving towards his clearly upset wife.

"James, they're so young, it's not fair." Lily wept into her husband's shoulder and he pulled her close, resting his chin atop her red head.

"I know Lily, I know. We'll protect them. The Fidelius is being cast tomorrow, then we'll be safe, our family will be safe." James whispered fiercely, clinging to the trembling woman in his arms.

"Dumbledore is so sure it will be Harry." Lily sobbed. "The prophecy specifically said ' _he_ ', but even if it isn't Harry, the Longbottoms will be targeted, my godson will be targeted! James, why? Why the children? They're innocent, they don't deserve this."

Her sobbing roused their daughter from her slumber and she in turn woke Harry, both twins looking up sleepily at their parents, neither of them crying, simply staring up at their parents.

"Ma-" Harry babbled and Lily gave a tearful laugh, hoisting her son into her arms and clutching him tightly to her chest, while Althea pulled herself to her little feet, extending a hand to her father.

"Da-"

Her father mimicked Lily, cradling his little girl to his chest and nuzzling into the downy fuzz atop her head, making little kissing noises into her pudgy cheek, eliciting a delighted giggle from her.

"I'll die before I let anyone hurt my family." James swore, his gaze fixed on his wife as he rocked his daughter back to sleep, his nose pressed against the crown of her head as he inhaled her scent deeply.

* * *

"Lily, take them and go! It's him! Go! Run, I'll hold him off!" James hollered and Lily quickly fled up the stairs, cradling the two infants to her chest.

She quickly placed the two twins in their crib and while Harry let out a small cry, Althea stared up at her mother with wide eyes. Lily leaned close to the rails of the crib, her green gaze fixated desperately on her children as she spoke tremulously.

"Harry, Althea, you are so loved, remember that. Mama loves you, Dada loves you. Be safe, be strong–"

The door suddenly splintered, a bright light illuminating the room and Lily whirled around, blocking the children from view just as the darkly cloaked figure entered the nursery. Tears began slipping down her cheeks as she realised that her husband had fallen, her beloved James was dead and that she was now the last line of defence between her children and the Dark Lord.

"Please –"

Althea let out a coo, crawling to the end of the crib furthest from her mother, babbling at the man that was pointing the white wand at them while her brother let out a babble at her, extending a hand to her.

"Not Harry, please not Harry." Lily begged.

"Stand aside," the Dark Lord spat. "Stand _aside_ girl, only the boy need die tonight."

"Please, no!" Lily sobbed desperately. "Take me, take _me_ , kill me instead!"

He moved closer, his red eyes narrowing and Lily knew he was fast losing his patience, not that he had much to begin with.

"I am offering you a chance to save your daughter, to take her and run. I am after all, a merciful Lord," the Dark Lord hissed softly, a mockery of care in his tone.

"Please, have mercy, have mercy!" Lily pleaded and Voldemort flicked his wand, causing Althea to suddenly zoom out of her crib and towards him, into his arms. Lily shrieked and made a grab at her daughter, freezing instantly when Voldemort levelled his wand with Althea's throat.

"Your daughter or your son. If you hand over the boy, I will let both you _and_ your girl live. Surely you do not wish both your children to die."

"Please! Please!" Lily screamed as Voldemort bared his teeth in a terrifying grin and traced his wand over the girl's skin.

"Perhaps she needs more persuasion." Voldemort murmured to the child as his red eyes glowed, locking on the Althea's green.

The sharp squeal that escaped Althea's mouth had Lily screaming at the top of her lungs as she watched the Dark Lord brand a symbol on to the infant's neck with his wand. When he finished, Althea was wailing at the top of her lungs, only to be silenced by a quick silencing spell from the same wand while the scent of burnt flesh filled Lily's nostrils, churning her stomach.

"You truly believe your son can defeat me? So much that you would sooner let your daughter die than hand over the boy."

"You truly know nothing of love if you would think for one second that I would choose between my children!" Lily spat. "That I would choose my life over their's? You monster!"

"Monster?" the Dark Lord crooned. "I should act accordingly then."

The fight drained out of Lily and she locked an unflinching gaze with her husband's murderer.

"Please!" Lily implored him, "Have mercy, I beg of you!"

Voldemort considered the red-haired woman before him briefly and shifted his hold on the silently screaming baby in his arms.

"Mercy?" he asked almost thoughtfully, "Perhaps you do deserve mercy, perhaps your daughter does."

Lily stared straight into the crimson gaze of the Dark Lord, the barest flicker of hope in her eyes. She was a mother after all, the instinct to protect almost drowning out any sense of logic.

" _Avada Kedavra_!" he hissed out suddenly, bright green light illuminating the nursery as Lily Potter dropped to the ground, green eyes once filled with life were now glassy and vacant in death.

"You have my mercy Lily Potter," Voldemort whispered, a snake-like sibilance in his voice. "I will not make you watch your children die."

He glanced down at the girl in his arms, her crying had finally ceased and she looked up at him with confused eyes, tear tracks shining on her cheeks as they trailed down past the dark red brand on her neck.

"I would grant you such mercy little one. Yet I wonder what mercy would it be to let you live when your family is dead? To grow up as I did, wondering, only to be disappointed in the end..." he murmured. "And yet, to see what would become of you, you who would remain the reminder to the world of what happens to those who defy Lord Voldemort."

Lord Voldemort stepped forward and promptly dropped the little girl into the crib beside her sniffling brother, the boy whom Fate declared was to be his downfall? He, the Heir of Slytherin, the Dark Lord, He whose name was spoken with such fear, this little worm was to destroy him? _Him?_

He watched as the boy turned to looked at his sister before staring up at Voldemort with eyes too young to show the fear they should in his presence.

"Perhaps you would have been a worthy foe," he sneered. "Alas, you will not live to see it so."

He levelled his wand with Harry Potter's face just as his sister sat up and reached for her brother's hand, clenching it tightly in her pudgy fist.

Green light illuminated the nursery for the second time and last time that night.

* * *

 **So this is the opening of my first story, it is a pleasure to meet you, I do hope you'll leave me a review as I would only love to hear your opinions. I suppose this is just a prologue of sorts and I was inspired by both Morgana Deryn and Sphinxs-Legend and should there be similarities, I apologise and pray they don't view it as plagiarism. I really hope to do this story justice and give my own twist to it.**

 **So I ask that you please give it a chance and that you are patient with my uploads, they will be somewhat erratic given that I am working quite often.**

 **Thank you for your time.**

 **-Fox.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Get up!" a high-pitched voice shrieked and a sharp rapping sounded throughout the small space, following by the sharp unlocking of the door. "Now!"

A final slap to the door and I, being closest to the door, sat up quickly, wincing at the stiffness in my muscles from being coiled up all night. A shuffle from behind me indicated that Harry too was waking up and I rubbed at my eyes blearily, yawning widely.

"Rise and shine brother." I murmured and quickly headed out of the confined space, into the brightly lit kitchen and over to my usual place by the sink, where a pile of utensils and crockery lay waiting to be washed. I quickly began washing just as the humanoid beach ball that was my cousin Dudley, came barrelling into the kitchen. He was followed mere moments by my dear twin, who was quickly instructed to finish cooking the breakfast and not to burn anything by Petunia, who wanted everything to be perfect for her 'Duddy's special day'.

"Hurry up!" Vernon, the walrus-whale hybrid with no neck, my uncle, snarled at Harry and I rolled my eyes. "Bring my coffee boy!"

"Yes Uncle Vernon." Harry replied dutifully as he served the sizzling rashers on to his uncle and cousin's plates.

"How many are there?" Dudley demanded after Petunia had led him towards the lounge, where a sickeningly large pile of presents lay waiting for the ungrateful lug.

"Thirty-six," Vernon replied proudly, "Counted them myself."

Clearly this wasn't the answer Dudley had expected as his beady little eyes narrowed even further and his typical spoilt brat tantrum face (as I liked to call it) appeared.

"Thirty-six?! But last year, last year I got thirty-seven!" Dudley howled and I threw an exasperated look to Harry, who had paused in his serving to cast a scowl at our overindulged cousin.

"Yes, well, some of them are quite a bit bigger than last year!" Vernon attempted to argue as his son got in his face, glowering nastily.

"I don't care how big they are." Dudley spat and Petunia quickly stepped in to do some damage control before Dudley could really get going on his tantrum.

"Oh, now, now, now," she crooned, "This is what we're going to do, is that when we go out we're going to buy you two new presents! How's that, Pumpkin?"

"So, so I'll have, thirty, thirty..."

"Thirty-eight popkin, thirty-eight." Petunia supplied for the thick idiot, placating him as I gritted my teeth angrily. Harry and I were barely given scraps from the table, dressed in clothes that were barely fit to be called rags and we were told to be grateful. _Grateful_ , as if our relatives were bestowing a boon of unrivalled kindness to us, when they frittered away their money on their son, buying him presents of various and undeniably ridiculous prices. The cost of one of that hippopotamus-walrus hybrid's presents would easily pay for some halfway decent clothes for both Harry and myself. It was this absurdly lavish manner of spending that got under my skin; they treated Harry and I like lesser beings, like we were mere servants, then expected that we trip over ourselves in gratitude? The nerve.

"Thea." Harry hissed. "Thea!"

I snapped out of my angered brooding at my brother's alarmed whisper, noticing with horror that the water in the sink in front of me was bubbling viciously, steam rising up as the water boiled away rapidly. With a gasp, I stepped back and closed my eyes, breathing deeply through my nose until I felt a sense of calm trickle back into my senses and the water stilled, a thick spiral of steam being the only sign of its previous boiling point.

Thankfully, it seemed that none of the Dursleys had noticed my little episode, as both Harry and I called them. It was hard to explain, sometimes things just happened around us, things that couldn't be explained. Like the time Harry had been running away from Dudley and his little band of cronies. He'd gone to jump behind the bins and somehow wound up on top of the roof of the school. Or there was the time he'd turned his teacher's hair blue when she'd accused him of cheating off Dudley's test, when in reality, it had been the other way around. There was also the time that Harry's hair had grown back overnight after Petunia butchered it, leaving him with only a ghastly fringe to cover 'that hideous scar' as she called it.

It occurred to me that that was the only reason my aunt let me have long hair, provided I kept it in that thick side braid that covered my own scar. It was hard to explain how either of us got our scars. Harry's was in the odd shape of a lightning bolt and near his hairline, whereas mine was much more prominent as it took up the expanse of the right side of my neck. It was a strange mark, consisting of an x-shape just under my jawline with one long vertical line going straight through it, right down to my collar-bone. If it wasn't bad enough, while Harry's scar was a red-pink sort of colour (which was odd given how old the scar was), mine was a faded charcoal colour, like an old tattoo. The Dursleys never spoke of how I got it, while it was common knowledge that our parents had died in a car crash, how Harry ended up with a scar like that and I ended up with what looked like a tattoo was pretty much a taboo subject.

As both Harry and I cleared up after the breakfast and Petunia bustled around getting ready for Dudley's outing to the zoo, the doorbell rang, signalling the arrival of Piers Polkiss, Dudley's right hand man, you could say. He was the one who held their victims' arms behind their backs while Dudley pummelled them. He somewhat resembled a rodent, or more specifically, a rat. At least he wouldn't be around for long, he was going with Dudley to the zoo, thankfully.

"Vernon," Petunia called, gesturing for her husband to join her in the hall, much to my interest. If it was bad news that affected Dudley, Harry and I were prime targets for his ire, so naturally I wanted to be ready to grab my brother and flee at a moment's notice.

It turned out that Mrs. Figg, the doddery old lady that lived across the way in what seemed to be a cat sanctuary, couldn't watch both Harry and myself, so we had to go to the zoo too, much to Dudley's disgust. After a promise of any sort of ice-cream he wanted, he was slightly placated once more and we were squashed into the back seat of the car, where I was forced to half sit on my brother's knee, considering Dudley took up nearly two seats alone.

Regardless of the uncomfortable position, the rumbling of the car lulled me into a doze for most of the journey and despite one little hiccup when Harry decided to mention a dream about a flying motorcycle – which nearly resulted in Vernon upending the car – we got to the zoo relatively unshaken. While Dudley and Piers were treated to two large ice cream cones, Harry and I were both content to receive the cheap lemon flavoured ice-pops, which was quite the treat, given the rarity that we were given anything other than bread with the odd bit of cheese or scrap of gristly meat.

Frankly, the chances were that if Harry and I had both relied solely on the pickings that the Dursleys provided, we would be even more sickly than we already appeared. However I – and eventually Harry after some persuasion – turned to the odd theft. Harry could be sneaky but I had the slightest edge on him, nimbly swiping pieces of fruit and canned foods when I was dragged along for grocery shopping with Petunia, mostly to serve as a bag carrier but I made the most of the opportunity.

My small stature made me look younger than I was and the baggy clothes soon became quite handy in smuggling supplies back to our cupboard. Harry was better for swiping things in the house itself, particularly when it came to Dudley's school lunch. Petunia would make Dudley's lunch and often Harry would swipe it before she noticed and of course, Petunia would think Dudley had done it, such was his healthy appetite...

It became routine and I admit I developed a slightly stickier hand than my brother, he had a somewhat more benevolently inclined moral compass. Unfortunately, food seemed to be the only thing we could get away with stealing, maybe the odd book but anything else would be suspicious.

"I want to see the monkeys!" Dudley announced before promptly waddling away as fast as he could, which wasn't very fast at all.

"Thea?" Harry murmured. "Will you –"

"It's fine Harry," I replied, "I'm used to it."

My brother's concern was due to a certain reaction that animals tended to have towards me. They were wary, if not outright spooked by my presence. From Mrs. Figg's cats to Aunt Marge's dog, animals just didn't take to me at all, so naturally the zoo wasn't going to be fun.

True to form, when I followed my brother closer to the enclosure that housed a group of ring-tailed lemurs, they instantly stared at me before letting out some sharp barks and hurrying away from me, leaving me to shake my head in confusion.

"What causes this?" I muttered and Harry reached for my wrist, squeezing it reassuringly, waiting for me to clasp his in our usual hold.

"I don't know," he replied softly. "We'll find out some day though, I'm sure of it."

* * *

Our last venture in the zoo was to be the reptile house which meant, much to my relief, that we would be out of there soon enough and then away from these screeching, fearful animals. I followed behind Harry, dragging my feet moodily as a cute looking gecko promptly dove for cover as I neared its enclosure.

"MOVE!" Dudley's shout filled the Reptile House, followed by a sharp rebuke from Harry.

"He's asleep."

"He's boring." Dudley spat and moved on to the next cage.

"Sorry about him. He doesn't understand what it's like, lying there day after day, having people press their ugly faces in on you." Harry spoke softly to the snake and I smiled, my brother was kind, a lot kinder than I was.

"Can you...hear me?" Harry suddenly asked, aghast as the snake raised its head. I could only stare in shock as the snake nodded.

"It's just...I've never talked to a snake before." Harry whispered excitedly. "Do you...I mean, do you talk to people often?"

The snake shook its head and I found myself slowly moving closer to the enclosure, utterly awed by this intelligent snake.

"You're from Burma, aren't you? Was it nice there, do you miss your family?" Harry asked and the snake turned its head in the direction of a sign which displayed clearly, 'Bred in Captivity.'  
"I see, that's me as well. I never knew my parents, either."

He glanced back at me and his eyes lit up as he beckoned me closer. "Thea! Quickly, I have an idea!"

I slowly moved until I was standing beside my brother and the snake promptly turned its head to stare at me in that typical unblinking stare of a serpent.

"Can I ask you something?" Harry asked and the snake nodded, still staring at me.

"This is my twin sister Thea," he began, "I was wondering if you would have any idea why all the animals would be afraid of her, she's never hurt anything before."

The snake merely cocked its head, much like a curious puppy and hissed oddly, as thought it was laughing. It stretched forward so that its tongue was flicking against the thin pane of glass between us.

"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!" Piers hollered and Dudley came hurrying over.

"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs and shoving me viciously. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor and I– being lighter than my brother – stumbled further than Harry, landing roughly on my knees near the entrance to the Reptile House.

What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened - one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they were flailing their arms wildly to retain their balance before falling head first into the boa's enclosure, landing in the water.

Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor as Harry stared on in shock. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits while I mirrored Harry's position, sitting on the floor as my knees throbbed.

"Brazil here I come! Thanks amigo!" the snake hissed delightedly as it slithered past Harry, pausing briefly beside me and eyeing me once more.

"Adeus irmã!" the boa hissed.

The ensuing panic from both Petunia and Vernon at the deadly attack that nearly resulted in the poor boys nearly being killed by a dangerous snake, was of little interest to me as I sat in the office while one of the keepers tended to the "traumatised" boys before escorting them to the zoo exit, apologising repeatedly. Despite the fact that the snake hadn't answered Harry's question, whether or not it knew the answer, that wasn't important. No, what stood out most to me was the sole fact that;

"It wasn't scared of me," I whispered and Harry blinked, a slow realisation filling his eyes.

"No, it wasn't," he whispered back, his mouth slightly agape in surprise.

"Harry, Harry was talking to it weren't you?" Piers spoke up once they were squeezed back into the car. "And it was staring at her."

The resulting silence said everything, or rather, the slow purpling of Vernon's face did, and I glanced at Harry with wide eyes, seeing the same fearful expression on his face. He knew just as well as I did that we were in for it the second they got behind closed doors.

And we were.

The second the door of Number Four was slammed shut, Vernon made a beeline for Harry, grabbing him by his hair and yanking his head back roughly, demanding to know what had happened.

"I swear I don't know!" Harry howled, his eyes watering in pain.

"Stop!" I shouted and Vernon turned his puce face towards me.

"Shut up girl or –"

"It was me!" I blurted. "Harry didn't do anything, I just wanted to touch the snake, that's all, I don't know what happened."

" _You_ –" Vernon snarled and grabbed my throat roughly while shoving Harry into his cupboard and levelling me with an ugly glare.

"No food," he all but spat. "One week."

He slapped me roughly across the face for good measure and my head snapped to the side, my world spinning off its axis before I was flung in alongside my brother and the door slammed shut behind them. The lock was snapped roughly into place and we were shrouded in darkness once more, Harry's hand reaching out and gripping mine tightly.

"Thea, you shouldn't have –"

"Why? It was me," I lied, it had definitely been Harry, it was extremely rare that I ever did anything to the same calibre that Harry did, I had only ever had about two or three episodes and they were minimal in comparison to Harry.

"Thea," Harry scolded and I sighed.

"Just leave it yeah?" I muttered. "Let's just get some sleep."

* * *

 **Well, here's the second chapter, yes I know it's the same day but don't get excited! I just felt like I didn't give you much to go on with the first chapter, whereas in this one you get a taste of Althea's character. I'll admit I struggled in deciding whether I wanted to write in 3rd person POV or 1st person but here we have it.**

 **Thank you to those of you who have already reviewed and/or favourited and followed.**

 **Thank you for your time,**

 **-Fox.**


	3. Chapter 3

The next few weeks passed and the bruise from Vernon's slap had yet to fade from my cheek, not that they really noticed in the first place. It was any other typical morning in the Dursley household, except for the fact that Petunia was dipping what looked like elephant skin in and out of grey water while Dudley was parading around in his Smeltings uniform. He looked like an utter tit.

"What's that?" Harry asked and Petunia sneered in distaste at the fabrics.

"I'm dying some clothes for your uniforms for Stonewall."

She may as well have told us that she was preparing our funeral clothes. Harry and I might be safe from Dudley in Stonewall but if we were going to be wearing what Petunia expected us to wear then we were doomed. There would be a scrabble for the hierarchy no doubt, as there was in every secondary school, but with rags like those, Harry and I would be declared the equivalent of peasants, to be subjected to who knew what sorts of torment for the next few years.

The clack of the letter box and the sound of letters hitting the floor had Vernon glance up briefly.

"Get the post Dudley."

"Make Harry get it." Dudley retorted.

"Get the post Harry."

"Make Dudley do it."

"Poke him with your Smeltings stick Dudley."

Harry dodged the stick quickly and I rolled my eyes as Harry wandered out to fetch the post. Nearly a minute later Vernon glanced up, noticing Harry had yet to return and jerked his chin at me in an obvious gesture meaning, go find out what's taking so long. I hurried out to see Harry staring at a strange envelope and moved up beside him.

"What is it?" I asked and he stared.

"I don't know but it's addressed to me," Harry replied. "Look."

"Mr H Potter, The Cupboard Under the Stairs, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey." I stared in shock, how did they know about the cupboard, was it a trick? It was an odd looking envelope, made of a thick, slightly yellow paper and the address was written in a sort of emerald green ink.

"Hurry up boy!" Vernon hollered. "What are you both doing, checking for letter bombs?"

Harry made to turn but I grabbed his wrist, shaking my head and pointing at the letter. "Hide it."

" _Hide_ it?" he asked, "What on earth for?"

"Because we live with Dudley," I deadpanned and he nodded in agreement before slipping it under the gap of our cupboard door, before hurrying back in and depositing the post beside Vernon.

We retreated to our cupboard as soon as we could without arousing any suspicion and Harry quickly broke the wax seal on the letter, who used wax seals?

 **HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1st September. We await your owl by no later than 31st July.

Yours sincerely,

-Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

 **UNIFORM**

First-year students will require:

1\. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2\. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3\. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4\. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

 **COURSE BOOKS**

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

-The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) – by Miranda Goshawk

-A History of Magic – by Bathilda Bagshot

-Magical Theory – by Adalbert Waffling

-A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration – by Emeric Switch

-One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi – by Phyllida Spore

-Magical Drafts and Potions – by Arsenius Jigger

-Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – by Newt Scamander

-The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection – by Quentin Trimble

 **OTHER EQUIPMENT**

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

 **PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK**

"What the bloody hell?" I whispered and Harry shook his head. "If this is a joke, its very well done."

"What if it's not?" Harry asked and I arched an unimpressed eyebrow.

"Harry, you can't possibly think –"

"Well why not Thea? It makes sense doesn't it? Look at all the weird things that have happened around us, things that we couldn't explain, things like _magic_." Harry whispered out frantically, hope shining like a beacon in his eyes.

"Yeah okay, it seems plausible when you put it like that," I murmured. "But Harry?"

"What?"

I chewed on my lip, frowning down at the letter. "If it's true, then where's mine?"

Harry froze and stared up at me in horror. "Maybe it's late?"

I swallowed the lump that was slowly starting to form in my throat. "Or maybe I'm not good enough to go there."

"Thea!" Harry admonished. "You can't think like that, why on earth would you say something like that?"

"Well it's possible!" I snapped back, "You've done way more things than I have, maybe I don't have enough magic to get in."

Harry shook his head. "No, that's not it. Thea, you're my _twin_ , not just my sister, my twin. There's no way you can't have magic. The letter's probably just late."

I glanced at my brother somewhat doubtfully and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close.

"I wouldn't go without you, you know that right?" Harry whispered and I sighed.

"And I wouldn't let you stay here, _you_ know that."

* * *

Vernon and Petunia were both acting exceedingly odd over the next few days, suddenly deciding that Harry and I should both be moved to Dudley's second bedroom. His second bedroom which housed toys that he didn't even play with anymore. I had every intention of saying that it was about time to Vernon but Harry was swift to butt in and thank them. _Thank_ them, as if they deserved it for giving us a ruddy bedroom after making us sleep in a tiny little cupboard for nearly ten years!

One night, as Harry slept soundly beside me, I was once again obsessing over the strange letter. I had read and re-read it nearly a dozen times, wondering why on earth I didn't get one. I had magic, I knew I did, maybe not as much as Harry but I could do things. So why didn't I get a letter? I felt an unpleasant churning in my stomach as I glanced at my brother's sleeping form, jealousy welling up in my gut. What did Harry have that I didn't? What made him so special?

I shook my head sharply to banish the horrible thoughts. This was my twin brother for crying out loud. Even if I didn't get to go, it wasn't fair to blame Harry, he couldn't help it. I quietly slipped out of the bedroom and wandered quietly down to the kitchen, grabbing a small glass of water and moving to sit by the fireplace, watching as it still burned sluggishly, full of ashes from papers that Vernon had probably burned before bed. Neither Harry or myself had been able to check the post for the last few days because Vernon had beaten us to it. Actually, now that I thought about it, he seemed very set on not letting either of us near the post.

Shrugging I moved closer to the fire, frowning at a distinctly yellowed type of paper sticking out from the coal box. I opened it as quietly as I could and stared in absolute shock as I found it full, not with coal, but letters. Letters with the same wax seal and the same emerald ink that Harry's letters had, but there was one key difference. The letters were addressed to one Miss A. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.

I yanked one out and cradled it close to my chest, my lip beginning to tremble as I fought back tears of both relief and joy. I was like Harry, I could do what he could... I wouldn't be left behind. I hurried back to the cupboard, waking Harry a bit more zealously than I should have because Vernon gave a warning growl, which typically meant, 'you woke me, another peep and you'll be sorry'.

"Thea, what?" Harry hissed and I held up the letter excitedly, watching as Harry stared blearily, his eyes still half-closed with sleep.

"Thea, you've read it a hundred times, what so different?" Harry mumbled sleepily and I swatted him.

"Look at it."

"What am I supposed to be seeing?" he asked and I pointed at the start.

"Dear Miss Potter, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts... _MISS_?"

There we go. About time the penny dropped.

"Thea!" Harry hissed delightedly and hugged me tightly, swaying us back and forth happily. "This is fantastic!"

"I thought I wasn't going to get one." I murmured into his shoulder and Harry pulled back, shaking his head with that typical 'you're a moron' look of his.

"The post's not due until morning though," Harry said, just realising it was still night-time. "Where did you get it?"

I led Harry to the coal box and lifted the lid as I watched his face, gesturing inside. "See?"

His expression wasn't what I expected, if anything he looked a little lost. I understood there were a lot of the letters there but it wasn't that confusing, what was confusing was how so many of them wound up in the box. More importantly, who put them there?

"Thea, what's so important about coal?" Harry asked and I frowned, glancing down into the box. They were gone, not trace of them ever having been there, vanished into thin air, leaving me floundering.

"This box was full of them Harry, I swear, and the ashes, look." I thought it was strange that Vernon lit a fire in July, especially given how warm it was and he normally didn't have a large amount of office papers to burn... unless...

"He _knows_. They know!" I hissed, anger rearing up in my chest.

"Thea!" Harry scolded, eying the ceiling warily, listening to detect any signs of movement. "Careful."

"I don't care Harry!" I snarled quietly, "Don't you see? You got your letter, mine obviously came the next day or who knows, maybe it came the day before and Vernon saw it. He hid it and more must have come since then. The address on yours had our cupboard written on it, so that explains why they suddenly moved us to the bedroom, but my letter has the smallest bedroom as its address."

"Thea, calm down –" "Don't tell me to calm down!" " – How would they know about anything to do with magic?"

I frowned, mulling it over. It was a fair argument, but the Dursleys had always tried to pretend that our episodes never happened, like ignoring it meant it didn't happen. Although, now that I thought back as far as she could, neither Harry nor myself had had any episodes before we were about six and I remembered our first one, in particular how Harry and I had been far more shocked to see the loaf of bread floating through the air towards us as we watched the Dursleys eat.

I voiced these thoughts to Harry, watching as his brow furrowed in consideration and a slow realisation crept on to his face.

"They knew?" he whispered. "How could they know?"

I shook my head, staring into the coal box. "I don't know Harry."

"You don't think..." Harry began, "Mum and Dad, maybe they could do magic?"

"I don't see how," I muttered bitterly. "If they could, I doubt a car crash could have killed them."

"Thea," Harry huffed exasperatedly. "You're saying the Dursleys have lied to us all this time, who's to say they haven't lied about our parents or my scar, they won't even mention yours!"

He had a point, a rather good one at that. I glanced up at the clock, noting that it was nearly four in the morning and beckoned for my brother to follow me back to our bedroom, in case Vernon wandered down to raid the fridge again.

"So what do we do?" Harry murmured as we curled up in our bed, our letters safely hidden under a loose floorboard.

"I have an idea."

* * *

After the post arrived the next morning, Vernon and Petunia's demeanours relaxed considerably and I threw a pointed glance at Harry, winking at him as I moved to the sink.

"What are you doing?" he mouthed and I started drying a plate he'd just washed, setting my jaw firmly.

"Testing the waters." I replied softly and Harry shook his head.

"Don't."

I didn't listen.

"I wonder if we'll learn a spell to wash dishes in Hogwarts." I mused aloud.

The sound of Petunia's cup smashing on the floor was music to my ears as I turned to face her, fighting to keep the smirk off my face.

"W-What did you say?" she practically shrieked and I shrugged, looking at Harry, who was chewing on his lip worriedly.

"Hogwarts, Aunt Petunia, we got our letters." I replied and watched with a vindictive pleasure as her horse face drained of all colour and Vernon turned steadily purple. This had been a total risk and I knew it but I figured that if they thought we knew more than we should, they would be more forthcoming about what they knew themselves.

"Y-Y-You?" she spluttered. "How did you find –"

"Oh, Harry's letter came earlier than mine, but I wasn't worried, I knew it was only a matter of time. Isn't that right Harry?"

Harry, not one to let me down, nodded quickly. "That's right."

A sudden screech sounded as a large eagle owl suddenly swooped into the lounge, landing on the kitchen island in front of Harry, extending its leg to him while casting an unsurprisingly wary glance in my direction. All five inhabitants of the suburban household stared in complete bafflement at the bird's sudden appearance, not to mention its fervent insistence that someone notice its leg. A roll of paper was tied to the outstretched appendage and Harry untied it gently while the owl promptly helped itself to some bread on the plate nearest to it.

"What's it say?" I asked as the Dursleys stared on in stunned silence, made a nice change really.

"Dear Mr and Miss Potter," Harry began, "Should you choose to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it has been decided that it would be more prudent for an escort to accompany you both to Diagon Alley for you to purchase your school items. As such, upon receiving your reply – which you may send with this owl – we will have an escort sent to you at the earliest convenience. Hoping you are well, Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress."

"Y-You _dare_!" Vernon finally found his voice. "You dare! I will not stand for this! You'll not be going! We swore when we took you in that we'd stamp it out of you."

There it was.

"Clearly you failed." I snapped, anger licking at my gut, and Vernon drew himself up to his full height.

"You – Will – Not – Be – Going!" Vernon howled and I glanced at Harry, who was idly stroking the eagle owl. Glancing at the rest of my relatives, I noted with satisfaction that they were fit to wet themselves. What better way to get them to agree to let us go than to make the thoughts of us remaining under their roof the greater of two evils?

"What happens when we can't control it?" I asked and Petunia whimpered. "When the lights start flickering, when the walls start shaking. We've seen what happens already and we're only going on eleven. I dread to think of what we could do if we can't control it..."

"Vernon," Petunia whispered and her husband turned to her, aghast.

"Pet, we swore!" he argued and she shook her head, her complexion almost pasty.

"I saw the freaky things _she_ could do, it stopped when she went to that school, who knows what they'll do." Petunia replied, her voice shaky as she stared at Harry and myself.

I was stunned and I turned to Harry, shaking my head in disbelief; I was right, they knew our mother had been just like us.

"She? You mean... our mother?" I asked and Petunia sneered.

"Of course I do," she spat. "My _perfect_ sister being what she was, how could you not be the same?"

"What she was?" Harry echoed angrily.

"Oh the day she got her letter our mother and father were so proud! We had a witch in the family, isn't is wonderful?" she echoed mockingly before her voice filled with venom. "I was the only one who could see her for what she was, a _freak_."

I gritted my teeth in anger and Harry quickly grabbed my wrist, squeezing it tightly, a silent plea for me to hold my temper.

"Then she met that Potter at school," Petunia continued disdainfully, clearly this rant had been building for years. "They left and got married and had you, and I knew you would be just as strange, just as – as – _abnormal_ – and then, if you please, she went and got herself _blown up_ and we got landed with you."

I felt like I'd just been sucker-punched, barely noticing as Harry's grip slid from my wrist as I sucked in a harsh breath, my hands shaking.

" _Blown up_?" Harry croaked, finding his voice before I could, his face ghostly white. "You told us they died in a car crash."

"Enough!" Vernon growled as he ushered his family out of the room. "I'll listen to no more of this freakishness!"

"Write a reply Harry." I murmured softly and he quickly grabbed a pen and some paper, penning a neat but brief reply before opening the window and letting the owl take it to wherever Hogwarts was.

"We'll not pay for a single bloody thing!" Vernon snarled venomously, poking his head back into the room. "Good luck affording this blasted freak school of yours."

As if we expected any less.

* * *

 **Well, there you have the third chapter and we have our Hogwarts letters! The next chapter should see a familiar face escorting the twins to Diagon Alley. Thank you for those of you who have followed/favourited this story already, I appreciate it. I can only hope you will take the time to review, I would be only delighted to hear your opinions.**

 **Thank you once again for your time, dear readers.**

 **-Fox.**


	4. Chapter 4

It was two days later, on Harry's birthday that the tentative peace of Privet Drive was broken as there was a loud thudding knock on the front door that had Dudley jumping up from the middle of playing on his Playstation, yelling stupidly, "Where's the cannon?"

"Hallo?" a thickly accented male voice called through the post box in an alarmingly loud fashion. "Harry? Althea?"

Once we'd grabbed our school lists, Petunia literally shoved both Harry and I to the front door, opened it, shoved us out and promptly slammed it shut, the sounds of every lock being clicked into place as we stared up at the giant of a man before us. The first thing I noticed about him was that very little of his face was visible other than his eye and cheeks, everything else was covered in the biggest black beard I'd ever seen.

"H-Hello." Harry found his voice first and the giant crouched down, his beetle-like eyes crinkling softly.

"I haven't see the pair o' yeh since yeh were babies," he chuckled warmly. "Its like lookin' at Lily an' James."

"Excuse me?" Harry asked. "Who are you?"

"Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts," he replied, an air of pride in his tone. "But yeh can call me Hagrid. Professor Dumbledore sent me to take both o' yeh to get yer school things in Diagon Alley."

Hagrid's eyes suddenly brightened as he produced a white square box with a ribbon tying it shut and extended it to Harry. "Brought this for the both of yeh, not every day yeh turn eleven is it? Although, 'fraid I mighta sat on it at some point but I imagine it'll taste fine just the same."

Harry opened the box slowly, revealing an iced cake that had the words "Happee Birthdae Harree & Altia" squeezed on to it in green icing. It was a birthday cake, our first birthday cake.

"Thank you." Harry and I whispered out in simultaneous awe as we stared up at Hagrid. We didn't know this man and here he was showing more kindness to us than our own relatives ever had.

Hagrid smiled and stood to his impressive full height, pulling out a pocket watch. "Ooh, we're a bit behind schedule. Best be off. Unless you'd rather stay, of course. Hmm?"

Harry and I practically sprinted after him, with Harry running gingerly with the cake box, a mix of gratitude and exasperation on his face. Well, where were we supposed to put the cake? The Dursleys would toss it as soon as look at it, although that mightn't be the case if Dudley found it first.

I found myself doubting Hagrid slightly when he started leading us towards a dingy looking old pub on a side street in London and I glanced up at the sign.

"The Leaky Cauldron?" I muttered aloud and Hagrid chuckled.

"Yes indeed, come on, we've to pass through here."

"Ah Hagrid! Usual I presume?" a loud male cockney accent hollered across the din. The pub itself was far bigger than I had expected, not to mention a lot better looking than its exterior appearance would suggest. Numerous men and women were scattered about, all in various forms of dress, most of which consisted of long, cloak-like outfits in a variety of colours. The hats were rather comical to look at too, with some of them looking like flattened top hats atop their heads and others had conical hats so big they could be used as traffic cones.

"Not today Tom," Hagrid replied as they moved closer to the bar that the balding innkeeper had hollered from. "I'm on official Hogwarts business. Jus' taking young Harry and Alti here to get their school things."

"Bless my soul," Tom uttered as his eyes fixed on Harry's showing scar. "It's Harry Potter."

His eyes then moved to me but before he could say anything else, we were bombarded by excited men and women of all ages, all declaring their admiration and gratitude. In their excitement, I was shoved by an overly excited wizard and I fell sideways, landing on my hands and knees in front of a pair of legs. Pushing myself to my knees I glanced up to see a man with intense brown eyes staring down at me, a large purple turban on his head.

"I beg your pardon, sir." I said softly and the man extended a hand to me.

I took it and gasped at the sudden jolt that rippled through my neck as he helped me to my feet, his gaze unwavering. My neck tingled slightly before the feeling faded into nothing and I managed not to frown.

"No need," the man replied softly. "Quirinus Quirrel."

"Althea Potter," I replied. "Thea, really."

"Hello Professor, didn't see you there!" Hagrid boomed as he led Harry over. "Harry, this is Professor Quirrel, he'll be your Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts."

"Oh, nice to meet you." Harry greeted and extended his hand to Quirrel, only for the turbaned man to stare at it with something akin to discomfort.

"F-Fearfully f-fascinating subject. N-Not that you need it e-eh P-Potter?"

I frowned at Quirrel, he hadn't stuttered earlier. His eyes darted to me briefly and I schooled my face quickly into an indifferent mask as Hagrid placed his hands on both mine and Harry's shoulder.

"Right, well best be off," Hagrid announced with a chuckle. "Lots ter buy."

Hagrid proceeded to lead us through the inn, his size proving very effective in creating a pathway through the crowd. We came to a simple wooden door that led out into a very small space with brick walls surrounding them. I frowned at Hagrid in confusion, where the hell was this supposed to lead?

"See, Harry, you're famous!" Hagrid announced as we moved to the far wall, standing still in front of it as Hagrid pulled a pink umbrella out from his coat. The coat itself looked to be made up of more pockets than anything so I wasn't overly surprised when he pulled it out. I traced my fingers over the grooves of the bricks idly as my brother spoke up in an almost exasperated manner.

"But why am I famous, Hagrid? All those people back there, how is it they know who I am?" Harry was clearly aggravated, as was I, being swarmed upon entry to an inn was not the highlight of my day thank you very much.

Hagrid shifted on his feet. "Not sure what you mean, Harry."

"Hagrid?" I pushed. "How do they know Harry? None of this makes sense. All those people shaking his hand and thanking him, what on earth was that about?"

Hagrid frowned down at me. "What was it about? Alti, he's the Boy-Who-Lived, what did you expect?"

"The Boy-Who- _Lived_?" I echoed dubiously. "What do you mean?"

Hagrid suddenly paled and glanced at Harry. "Merlin help us, yeh don't know..."

"Don't know?" Harry asked. "What don't we know?"

"I, I'm not sure I'm the right person to tell yeh that." Hagrid replied, his voice wavering slightly.

"Hagrid please?" Harry requested and the large man shifted uncomfortably, his grip tightening on his pink umbrella.

"Better we hear it from you than a stranger right?" I pressed and he sighed sadly before nodding at us and squatting down to eye level with us.

"Alrigh', first, and understand this, 'cause it's very important. Not all wizards are good. Some of them go bad. A few years ago there was one wizard who went as bad as you can go. And his name was V-...his name was V-..." Hagrid gulped and broke off shuddering.

"Maybe if you wrote it down?" Harry suggested but Hagrid shook his head.

"No, I can't spell it. All right. His name was Voldemort."

"Voldemort?" Harry and I echoed at the ridiculous name.

Hagrid shushed us quickly and looked around briefly, eyeing the closed door that his bulk was blocking before turning back to us.

"It was dark times, Harry, Alti, dark times. Voldemort started to gather some followers, brought 'em over to the dark side. Anyone that stood up to him ended up dead." Hagrid spoke gravely. "Your parents fought against him, but nobody lived once he decided to kill 'em. Nobody...not one. Except you.

"Me? Voldemort tried to kill...me?" Harry whispered aghast. "B-But..."

"Yes. That ain't no ordinary cut on your forehead, Harry. A mark like that only comes from being touched by a curse and an evil curse at that." Hagrid replied and Harry reached up to trace his scar as his gaze moved to me and he swallowed.

"And Thea?" he asked, "Did he try to –"

"No." Hagrid replied. "Can't say I know much of anythin' about your mark Alti, only that _he_ gave it to you and that it's not the same curse as he used on Harry here."

I didn't know what to think. All these years of wondering what had happened to leave me with such a specific mark, something that was so blatantly _abnormal_ , as Petunia might say. Now we knew, we knew that both our scars came from a man, a murderer, the wizard who killed our parents.

"What happened to Vol–" Harry paused, " to You-Know-Who?"

Hagrid shook his head, his eyebrows meeting above his nose. "Some say he died. Codswallop in my opinion. Nope, I reckon he's out there, still, too tired to go on. But one thing's absolutely certain. Something about you stumped him that night. That's why you're famous, Harry. That's why everybody knows your name. You're the Boy-Who-Lived."

So that was it, the fame, the gratitude, all because this wizard, Voldemort, killed our parents and then tried to kill Harry but failed. It sat uncomfortably with me and I felt Harry's hand slip into mine once more, squeezing it reassuringly as Hagrid stood up to face the brick wall once more.

"So now we know." I murmured so only Harry could hear.

"Now we know," he echoed, his voice heavy with emotion and I squeezed his hand tightly.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Hagrid began tapping the bricks in a clockwise pattern with his umbrella and then the whole wall _moved_ , snapping us out of our family moment. The bricks began to rearrange themselves, slowly parting until they formed an archway that revealed possibly one of the most wondrous sights I had ever beheld in my entire life.

"Welcome," Hagrid announced, "To Diagon Alley."

* * *

It was awe-inspiring. The buildings themselves, while retaining a somewhat 1800's style about them, seemed to defy all laws of physics. The structures were something akin to a house of cards, like the slightest error in movement would send the whole place collapsing. But the colours... such _colour._ There was a buzz in the air, and not just in the sense of the excitable crowd, in the sense that the air itself seemed charged with an energy that sent delightful shivers up my spine, lifting me up. It was like the stone, the wood, the very alley was alive. Calling it an alley was a joke really, it was like a generous community, a market village in itself. How they managed to hide it from everyone I couldn't begin to fathom.

Hagrid led both of us down from the archway, which instantly began to reform into the solid brick wall it had been previously. I was surprised Harry wasn't getting dizzy as he whirled his head in so many directions, trying to look at everything. How could he not? This was our first taste of the wizarding world. _Our_ world.

And I never wanted to leave.

The shops were so delightfully eccentric that I couldn't help but give out a delighted giggle as I jogged alongside Hagrid, managing to pass him in my excitement.

"Oi! Alti, don't be gettin' too far ahead!" Hagrid warned.

I had no doubt that even if I did manage to get lost in the crowd, Hagrid would spot me in an instant but then again, it was a magic alley. And didn't that thought thrill me, a magical alley. A shop to my right sold all manners of cauldrons, silver, pewter, gold... then to my left was a place called Eeylop's Owl Emporium, a shop that house all manners of owls ranging from little Barn Owls to regal looking Eagle Owls. Even the warning screeches that some gave as I wandered a bit too close couldn't upset me today. Not today when I felt like I belonged somewhere, really belonged.

"Come on Hagrid!" I exclaimed delightedly and grabbed his thumb with my hand, urging him to hurry, much to his amusement.

"Bit excited eh?" he asked and I beamed at him.

"Hagrid, this is the most amazing place I've ever been to." I gushed. "Excited is almost an insult to how I feel right now."

"Well jus' stay close," Hagrid warned, although his smile took from the sternness he was attempting to exude. "Don' wanna lose yeh."

He pointed towards a few shops, indicating the different items we could get for doing various types of magic but Harry paused in his steps, looking up at Hagrid worriedly.

"But Hagrid, how are we to pay for all this? We haven't got any money."

He was right of course and I somehow doubted that we could get away with nicking the things we needed for school. I found myself wondering if there were spells to prevent thievery, that would be awkward to say the least.

Hagrid led us to large white building that looked to be built of pure marble, its structure similar to a courthouse, or more accurately, a courthouse that had been based off of the Pantheon in Rome. I fought to keep my jaw from hanging as we entered the gleaming halls, coming to another set of doors that had a verse clearly emblazoned on it.

 _Enter Stranger but take heed_

 _Of what awaits the sin of greed._

 _For those who take but do not earn_

 _Must pay most dearly in the turn._

 _So if you seek beneath our floors_

 _A treasure that was never yours_

 _Thief, you have been warned, beware_

 _Of finding more than treasure there._

"You'd be mad ter try an' rob it." Hagrid muttered as Harry and I whirled around in awe, as well as nervously too mind. Numerous creatures of small stature moved around methodically while some sat behind the rows of teller booths, all of whom seemed to possess pointed ears and sharp, needle-like teeth.

"Hagrid?" Harry asked in a hushed and somewhat disturbed tone. "What are those things?"

"They're goblins Harry, Clever as they come the goblins, but not the most friendly of beasts. Best stay close." Hagrid replied in a low voice, his small eyes darting around warily at the workers. Harry shifted noticeably closer to Hagrid and I was quick to follow suit as we came to a halt at the main desk.

A decidedly older looking goblin with tufts of silver hair poking out from behind his pointed ears sat at the high desk, his quill scratching in short strokes as it was gripped in spindly fingers.

Hagrid cleared his throat. "Mr Harry Potter and Miss Althea Potter wish to make a withdrawal."

The goblin looked up, a sneer on his face as his thin lip curled upwards. "And do Mr and Miss Potter have their key?"

Key? What did we need a key for?

Hagrid started. "Oh. Wait a minute. Got it here somewhere."

He rooted unsuccessfully for a spell until he finally pulled out a small albeit intricately designed golden key. "Hah, here's the little devil. Oh, and there's something else as well. Professor Dumbledore gave me this. It's about you-know-what in vault 713."

He handed the goblin a sealed envelope and both Harry and I exchanged a similar curious glance.

"Very well," the goblin nodded once.

After a rather thrilling cart ride through the depths of a cavern that probably reached the centre of the earth and we were looking up at a large metal door as our guide, Griphook, got out of the cart.

"Lamp please," he requested and Hagrid passed it over, one hand clenched over his mouth.

"Key please."

When the circular door swung open, I choked on my breath, staring in absolute astonishment at the _mountains_ of coins before me. Harry had much the same reaction, his jaw dropping as his eyes flittered across the various piles of different coins. All this time, all this time we had had a fortune buried under London, money that could have bought us a decent life without the Dursleys. Of course, if Vernon had heard that we had even a fraction of the wealth before us, he'd have had it pinched before we knew what was happening. Although, I assumed there were anti-Muggle, if not anti-theft enchantments?

"Didn't think your mum and dad would leave ya with nothing, did yeh?" Hagrid asked with a chuckle, interrupting my thoughts, and handed us both a small cloth bag no bigger than our palms.

"Moneybags." Hagrid explained. "Go on then, get what yer need. Gold ones are Galleons, silver are Sickles and the small coppers are Knuts. 17 Sickles to a Galleon and 29 Knuts to a Sickle."

I nodded and quickly moved over to a pile of Galleons with Harry and proceeded to fill the bag. I lost count of how many coins I stuffed into the bag but it could have easily been a hundred. Despite the clear mass of coins I'd placed in the bag, the bag never changed in bulk or weight.

"Alrigh' let's go." Hagrid announced and ushered us out of the vault, leading us back to the cart.

"Any chance we could go a bit slower this time?" Hagrid asked pitifully and Griphook turned to give him a pointy grin.

"One speed only."

Our next stop was even further down into the depths of Gringotts and Hagrid looked practically green by the time the cart lurched to a stop outside vault number 713. Griphook requested no key for this vault, instead running one long skeletal finger down the length of the door, which suddenly began emitting a series of clicks and metallic groans before it swung open.

"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped there." Griphook informed us and I stared into the depths of the dark vault. It was empty, save for one small, unimpressive – and rather grubby looking – package. Hagrid quickly swiped it up and pocketed it before turning to exit the vault once more.

"How often do you check to see if someone's inside?" Harry asked and Griphook gave him a rather chilling smile.

"Oh once every ten years."

Note to self, I mused, don't try to rob Gringotts.

* * *

Shopping took much longer than I had ever expected, although I was probably mostly to blame for that, given the fact that I had to be practically wrestled out of most of the shops. I couldn't help but be utterly fascinated at the items before me.

"Alti come on," Hagrid urged. "We've to go next door to get yer robes, yeh'll need to be measure for those!"

"Next door you said?" I asked and he nodded.

"Well then why don't you take Harry and I'll go when he's finished?" I suggested, reluctant to leave this treasure trove of knowledge so soon.

Hagrid looked ready to argue but I pulled out the most pitiful expression I had in my arsenal and pouted up at him.

"Please Hagrid?" I begged. "I've only just found the books on dragons!"

I held up the heavy book as proof and he huffed before chuckling slightly and I beamed, knowing I'd won.

"Alrigh', twenty minutes."

"Deal!" I exclaimed and hurried back towards the section that seemed more tapered towards those who were new to the wizarding world. I ended up with a pile of seven extra books, silently thanking Hagrid for taking my school books off my hands, otherwise this would present a bit of a problem.

Unfortunately, my short stature resulted in many adults bumping into me, with the third sending the top two books on my pile flying to the floor. Needless to say, the wizard hurried off, not even noticing that he'd even hit me.

"Excuse me too!" I snarled and moved to place my pile of books down so I could pick up my two escapees only to see my books already being held out to me.

"Oh, thank you." I murmured as I looked up at the boy in front of me. He was my age with dark hair and eyes, an interesting cleft in his chin and full lips, which were curled into a small grin.

"You're welcome," he replied, a light lilt to his accent that I couldn't place. "Interesting choice."

I glanced down and noted that he was referring to the books he now held, "Dark Wizards and Witches Through the Ages" and "The Magical and the Mundane".

"There's just so much I want to learn." I replied softly and the boy raised an eyebrow.

"I see, you're a Muggleborn I assume."

For a moment I was insulted but then I wondered why I was even feeling that way, it wasn't as if he had called me a Muggle. "No, Muggle-raised."

If anything, he probably would have looked less surprised if I had told him I was a Muggle.

"Muggle- _raised_ you say?" he asked interestedly. "That's interesting."

"Maybe to you." I replied coolly, not sure what to make of this boy. He didn't give much away in his expression, keeping his face schooled in an almost indifferent expression but his eyes were an open book, amusement shining in the brown depths.

"I apologise, I haven't introduced myself, my name –"

"Alti! Hurry up." Hagrid hollered and I jumped, turning to face my escort sheepishly.

"Sorry Hagrid, I'll be right out!" I called and turned back to the boy.

"I'm sorry I have to go," I explained. "Are you starting at Hogwarts too?"

He nodded and I smiled. "Great! I'll see you there!"

I hurried towards the counter to pay for my books before hurriedly making my way out to Hagrid, who gave me a somewhat scolding look, to which I responded with a toothy smile.

"Sorry Hagrid." I offered and he chuckled before taking my book parcels from me. "Hagrid, I can carry those!"

"Tis fine Alti, go on, Harry will just be finished I wager."

Madame Malkin's was quiet, with Harry being the only other customer in the shop. The shop itself was brightly lit with various mannequins scattered about the place, all covered in different styles of robes. I approached Harry as he paid for his robes, giving a small smile to the woman behind the counter.

"Thea, hi," Harry greeted and I smiled.

"How did you get on?" I enquired and he shrugged.

"Fine, met a boy that reminded me of Dudley though." Harry replied and I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

"Lovely. Suppose I'd be out of luck if I hoped he wasn't a first-year too?" I asked and Harry grimaced, leaving me to blow a raspberry with my lips as the witch turned to me.

"First year as well dearie? On to the stool over there then!" she urged and I moved over to the stool in question, sighing in relief when she waved her wand and a privacy screen popped up, blocking us from view. The process was a lot faster than I expected as she waved her wand and a tape measure took my measurements in moments. I was outfitted and paying within fifteen minutes, much to my relief.

"We still need a wand." Harry read off the letter as we departed Madame Malkin's and strolled down the street, Hagrid whistling a merry tune.

"A wand?" Hagrid asked. "Well you'll want Ollivander's, ain't no place better."

He pointed at a dark and rather old looking establishment with fading writing above the doorway that read, "Ollivander's, Makers of Fine Wands since 382BC".

"You two run along," Hagrid said as we got to the door. "Just one more thing I've got to take care of, won't be long."

The shop was tiny, practically empty, except for one small spindly chair in the corner which looked like it was better suited to the numerous spiders that had made their webs there, rather than as a seat. Thousands of narrow boxes were piled to the ceiling as well as stuffed on to various dusty shelves. All in all, the shop looked on the verge of desolate.

"Hello?" Harry called into the depths of the shop. "Hello?"

A man with silvery coloured hair suddenly slid into view on a wheeled ladder, his palest of blue eyes gazing down at us knowingly.

"I wondered when I'd be seeing you, Mr and Miss Potter," the man, Ollivander it seemed, spoke as he slid off the ladder and approached them. He waved his own wand and a tape measure shot up to Harry's arm.

"Which is your wand arm?" he asked and Harry cast me a confused glance.

"Er, I'm right-handed?" he offered and the tape measure quickly moved to the named arm before moving on to me, measuring my now extended right arm.

"You both have your mother's eyes, It seems only yesterday that she was in here buying her first wand." Ollivander mused as he rooted through one shelf of boxes. "Ten and a quarter inches, swishy, made of willow, nice wand for Charms work."

He pulled out a box and blew the layer of dust off it before returning to the counter. "Your father, on the other hand, preferred a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favoured it – it's really the wand that chooses the wizard."

He handed Harry the wand that had been in the box and Harry stared at the man expectantly.

"Well, give it a wave." Ollivander urged, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world and Harry jumped slightly, waving the wand. We both yelped as all the shelves come crashing down, boxes of wands throwing themselves to the floor. Harry hurriedly put the wand gingerly back on the counter, backing away from it nervously.

Ollivander hummed. "Apparently not. Perhaps this."

Harry waved the new wand at a vase, only to have it blow into smithereens.

"No, no, definitely not! No matter..." Ollivander called as he moved further into the shop, pausing at a shelf, eyeing it in a critical manner before glancing back at Harry.

"I wonder," he murmured as he pulled down a box and moved back to Harry, handing him the dark coloured wand. "An unusual combination, holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches."

As Harry waved it, he seemed to glow in a bright golden light as red sparks gushed out of the wand. I watched as an almost euphoric expression took over and his eyes glazed over, I knew without a doubt that we had just found his wand.

"Bravo, yes very good!" Ollivander clapped his hands together. However, it is curious, very curious."

"Sorry, but what's curious?" Harry asked in a slightly breathless voice as the wandmaker regarded him in fascination.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. It just so happens that the phoenix, whose tail feather resides in your wand gave one other feather, just one. It is curious that you should be destined for this wand when its brother gave you that scar." Ollivander uttered softly as he pointed at the lightning bolt on Harry's forehead and I gasped in surprise.

"Yes, yew and phoenix feather, thirteen and a half inches. Which leaves me to wonder..." Ollivander muttered as he turned to me, his admittedly creepy gaze landing on me as he tilted his head in an almost curious manner.

I cast my brother an alarmed look as Ollivander disappeared into the shadows of the shop once more, returning moments later with a grey box, placing it gingerly on the counter. He pulled the top off and peeled back the covering, revealing the most beautiful looking wand I'd ever seen, despite having only seen a handful. It was pale, practically white, with black vein like threads running up the length while the handle darkened to an almost black.

At Ollivander's nod I reached in and gently picked up the wand, wrapping my hand around it tenderly, my index finger aligning with the length. A cool breeze suddenly blew my hair back and I was weightless, a surge of electric energy rippling up my spine. It felt like my heart was being encompassed in a glorious heat and I beamed brightly at my brother. My wand, mine.

"I thought as much." Ollivander spoke and I turned to face him. His eyes were fixated on my wand with something akin to trepidation and nostalgia?

"Another phoenix feather, in a manner of speaking, the feather in the core of your wand came from a thunderbird. However it is not the core that intrigues me." Ollivander spoke and I found myself growing more and more frustrated with the man.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Yew, thirteen inches and the feather of a thunderbird. A branch of yew taken from the same tree as-"

"Voldemort." I whispered, barely managing not to drop my new wand in horror. "Why? I don't understand why."

"That remains to be seen Miss Potter. That wand, much like yours Mr Potter, will prove most loyal, however Miss Potter, I would advise caution. That feather was gifted to me by Shikoba Wolfe, a wandmaker most familiar with thunderbirds. They can prove difficult at times, temperamental if you will."

I cast him an unimpressed look and he blinked slowly.

"The wand chooses the wizard, remember that." Ollivander spoke as he turned his gaze to Harry. "It's not always clear why, but I think it is clear that we can expect great things from you. After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things...terrible, yes, but great."

I never felt more uncomfortable in my life and I practically sagged in relief when Hagrid appeared at the shop window and rapped on it eagerly. We quickly paid the wandmaker and scurried out of the shop and away from the scrutiny of his unnerving gaze. Hagrid stood beaming in front of us and raised two cages up to our eye level.

"Happy Birthday!" he boomed and Harry gasped as Hagrid handed him a cage containing a stunning snowy owl with the most beautiful amber eyes you could imagine. It hooted up at Harry in greeting and suddenly a cage was thrust into my hands and I gulped as I stared into it. A pair of shrewd orange coloured eyes stared up at me threateningly and I flinched as the eagle owl within let out an angry screech. I pushed the cage back towards Hagrid and took a few steps back, giving him a watery smile, desperately trying to hide the hurt on my face.

"T-Thank you Hagrid but um, I..."

For probably the first time in my life I couldn't think of a decent excuse so I went to my next option and skipped ahead, hurrying back up the street, ignoring Harry and Hagrid as they hurried after me.

Lunch at the Leaky Cauldron was awkward and it was only when Hagrid apologised that I realised what an arse I had been. The poor man had done nothing but show me kindness, buying me a pet out of the goodness of his own heart.

"I'm sorry Hagrid," I murmured, finally looking up from my stew. "Animals just don't like me, they're terrified of me, always have been."

Hagrid's brow furrowed. "I'm sure that's not true, yeh just have to give them a chance."

I shook my head. "I've tried Hagrid, believe me, just ask Harry."

"It _is_ true Hagrid." Harry spoke up and Hagrid looked over to him, shaking his head.

"I can't understand that."

"You and me both." I replied bitterly and spooned another mouthful of stew into my mouth.

"Well, yeh never know, there's lotsa magical creatures yeh haven't met yet Alti!" Hagrid suddenly piped up excitedly. "Bet a dragon wouldn' be scared a yeh!"

His expression was so hopeful and the statement so ridiculous that I couldn't help but dissolve into a series of chuckles. I was soon joined by my brother and Hagrid, all of us chuckling into our stew before we opened the box of birthday cake and split it between us, despite Hagrid's protests. Tension soon gave way to conversation about Hogwarts and despite my unease, Hagrid urged me to keep the owl, that perhaps over time things would change. I doubted it but I said nothing, not wanting to hurt his feelings.

* * *

The next month spent at the Dursley household was equal parts amusing and irritating. Dudley's new fear of us felt empowering and I had thrown myself into my studies, reading practically every book from cover to cover. The only thing I seemed to be failing at was winning my owl's affection.

I had named him Zeus and while he regarded me with utter contempt, he didn't seem overly fond of Harry either which made me feel somewhat better. Harry's owl, Hedwig, seemed to enjoy Harry's preening but upon my approach, she fixed me with a haughty glare and flapped her wings threateningly, leaving me to pout and swear.

On our last night in Privet Drive, I found myself wide awake while Harry slept soundly and I huffed as I spotted Zeus glaring at me. Giving up on sleep I found myself deciding to sneak out to the back garden with Zeus where I opened his cage and gestured at the open sky. He regarded me warily and I placed the open cage on the ground, sitting beside it.

"I don't know why it is both you and Hedwig hate me so much," I murmured softly. "I would never hurt you despite what you might think."

The eagle owl merely shook himself, puffing up his feathers as his orange gaze followed my every movement.

"All animals fear me you know?" I muttered before glancing at the owl. "Tomorrow we'll get to Hogwarts and you'll be free to do whatever you like. It's not like I'll have anyone to be writing letters to so you're free. You won't even have to see me if you don't want. I'll still bring you those treats you seem to like so much and I'm sure Hagrid won't mind if you visit him for scratches. Sounds good right?"

I glanced over at the bird and sighed. "Go ahead, fly or hunt, whatever you want, we leave in the morning."

Zeus shuffled out of his cage and took flight into a tree, perching on the branch and proceeding to preen his feathers while I made my way back inside.

"Bloody pigeon." I muttered as I slipped back into bed beside Harry, closing my eyes and trying to relax into sleep.

I wouldn't deny that I was nervous, tomorrow was the start of an adventure that would shape and change the rest of our lives. I could only hope that I didn't do anything to squander it, for both our sakes.

"Goodnight Harry." I whispered.

* * *

 **As I've said before, given my work, updates will be somewhat erratic and will sometimes have considerable amounts of time between them but I do hope you'll check in once in a while and let me know what you think. It was my birthday the other day and I got some time off so naturally I dove right back in to this story.**

 **I would like to thank my two reviewers for their input, I truly appreciate it, so thank you MentallyIll and The Excited Hufflepuff Wannabe Slytherin. I do hope you'll continue to read and review.**

 **-Fox.**


	5. Chapter 5

Needless to say that the next morning, Vernon was only too thrilled to drop us at King's Cross when he heard that our train platform was 9 ¾ . I admit, I was concerned too, neither Harry nor I had even thought to ask Hagrid when he presented us with our tickets. Harry quickly strode towards a conductor and I winced as he asked him about the platform. The man was a Muggle for crying out loud, if anything the absurd question was sure to be viewed as a childish joke.

"Think you're being funny do you?" the conductor snapped as he marched off, leaving my brother looking rather worried while I rolled my eyes. Had he really expected any other reaction? I was getting worried as well admittedly, we only had fifteen minutes to get on the train before it left and I for one did not fancy getting left stranded in London.

"It's the same year after year. Always packed with Muggles, of course."

Harry and I both snapped our heads towards the mention of Muggles to see a family of red-heads bustling down the platforms between Nine and Ten. They had trollies with large trunks just like ours and I noticed that the oldest looking boy of the bunch had an _owl_.

"Come on. Platform 9 ¾ this way!" the mother by the looks of it, called as they stopped by one of the brick barriers. "All right, Percy, you first."

The tall boy with the owl cage on his trolley hurried forward and took off in a brisk jog towards the brick wall. I stared in shock, waiting for him to crash but instead, he disappeared right into it. Harry looked just as flabbergasted as I felt.

"Fred, you next!" the mother called, glancing at another of her sons and I noticed that he was one of a set of identical twins. Figuring out which was which would no doubt be an ongoing sport.

"He's not Fred, I am!" the twin she hadn't glanced at argued irritably.

"Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother!" the other huffed and the mother grimaced sheepishly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, George."

The twin – George it seemed – paused beside his mother before heading for the wall. "I'm only joking. I am Fred."

He then took off at a run towards the wall, his twin brother on his heels as they too disappeared into the brick barrier, leaving both Harry and I to regard the whole situation in disbelief. This feeling was most likely to be a recurring thing for the next few months, if not years. Magic just seemed to have no limits, surely it must have some but for me being Muggle-raised alongside my brother, this was all so surreal, like a dream I never wanted to wake up from.

Harry suddenly hurried forward with his trolley and skidded to a halt beside the woman and her two remaining children, a boy who looked to be about our age and had a rather sizeable nose – which was dirty I noticed – and a younger girl that clung to her mother's hand.

"Excuse me! C-could you tell me how to..." Harry trailed off awkwardly and the woman smiled encouragingly at him.

"How to get on the platform?" she finished for him and Harry nodded sheepishly. "Yes, not to worry, dear. It's Ron's first time to Hogwarts as well."

She gestured at her dirty-nosed son, who offered a smile before she turned to point at the brick wall. "Now, all you've got to do is walk straight at the wall between platforms 9 and 10. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous."

Harry nodded and turned to begin running at the wall just as the young girl piped up, "Good luck."

"Thank you ma'am, we appreciate it." I said politely and smiled at the daughter before turning to follow my brother, steeling myself as I charged at the wall. Despite every instinct that screamed to brace for impact, I felt a whoosh of air and suddenly found myself in a completely new looking station that gleamed brightly and bustled with life. The thing that caught my eye instantly was the beautiful scarlet steam-engine that sat in all its gleaming glory under a sign that read "Hogwarts Express, Platform 9 ¾"

"We're here." Harry murmured and I grinned as he led us towards the baggage car and we began struggling to hoist our trunks into it.

"Need a hand?" a friendly voice offered and we turned to see one of the red-headed twins standing behind us.

"Yes please," Harry and I chorused and the boy grinned.

"Oi Fred!" he hollered, so this was George. "C'mere and help!"

His twin jogged over and greeted us before helping his twin hoist our trunks into the car, finally tucking them away and leaving us holding our school robes.

"Thank you," both Harry and I panted.

Harry wiped his slightly sweaty brow, unintentionally revealing his scar and the twins' gaze zeroed in on it.

"Blimey," said one, George was it? "Are you-?"

"He is," said the other. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry.

"What?" Harry asked.

 _"Harry Potter,"_ they chorused and Harry huffed.

"Oh, him," he replied. "I mean yes, I am."

The twins gawped at him and I saw my brother turn a slow shade of red in embarrassment before the twins turned to me.

"So that must make you –"

"Fred? George? Are you there?"

"Coming Mum!" the twins hollered back and quickly hopped off the baggage car, leaving Harry and I to find some seats. We were lucky enough to find an empty compartment and we both settled in at the open window, sitting opposite each other.

"Hey Mum, guess what!" I heard the voice of one of the twins pipe up and I peered subtly out the window. "You'll never guess who we met on the train."

I cast a quick glance at my brother as he slid down in his seat so as not to be seen. It really made me think, how out of how many people in the world, that my brother had this fame thrust upon him, something he didn't care for in the slightest. He was a humble boy, always had been, just looking to do his best and always watching my back, just as I always would watch his. Especially now, I knew that this was only a mere taste of the bother that was to besiege Harry at Hogwarts.

"You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station. Know who he is?"

"Who?"

 _"Harry Potter!"_ the twins chorused.

The little girl's voice piped up almost instantly. "Oh Mum, can I go on the train and see him? Oh Mum, please..."

"You've already seen him Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something for you to goggle at in a zoo. Is he really Fred? How do you know?"

"Asked him. Saw his scar too. It's really there – it's like lightning."

"Wager that was his sister with him too."

"Oh the poor _dears_ – no wonder they were alone. I wondered. They were ever so polite."

"Never mind that!" one of the twins exclaimed. "Do you think they remember what You-Know-Who looks like?"

My mood instantly soured and I sniffed in irritation as their mother suddenly became very stern.

"I forbid you to ask them Fred," she said forcefully and a rush of gratitude filled me. "No, don't you dare. As if they need reminding of that one their first day at school."

"All right keep your hair on."

The whistle suddenly sounded.

"Hurry up!" their mother urged, ushering her sons back on to the train.

"Don't cry Ginny! We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."

"George!" their mother scolded.

"Only joking Mum."

The train slowly began to move and I saw the red-headed sister, half laughing, half crying, as she ran after the train until it gathered too much speed, leaving her to fall behind and wave. The station soon gave way to houses which in turn gave way to green fields and I grinned broadly at my brother. The excitement had my heart racing and I pulled out one of my books, hoping to relax. I wasn't sure how long the train journey was going to be so I had come well prepared. I could only hope there was a shop or something on board for us to get some food.

The door of the compartment suddenly slid open and the youngest red-headed boy from earlier poked his head in sheepishly, nodding at the empty space beside Harry.

"Anyone sitting there?" he asked and Harry shook his head, which the boy took as an invitation to enter and sit down beside my brother.

"Hey Ron."

The twins were back.

"Listen we're going down the middle of the train – Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," mumbled Ron, lookin somewhat pale.

"Harry," said the other twin, we didn't introduce ourselves. Fred and George Weasley. This is Ron, our brother."

"This is Thea," Harry replied. "My sister."

The both gave me friendly smiles and nods before turning and dashing down the train with a "See you later."

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted and I rolled my eyes, turning back to my book.

"Have you really got the – the –" Ron began, gulping.

"The what?" Harry asked.

" _Scar_." Ron whispered and Harry chuckled, raising his fringe, and Ron stared agape.

"Wicked."

He turned to me and I saw him eying my braid only for Harry to nudge him subtly – or so he thought – and shake his head at the redhead.

* * *

I soon tuned out the boys conversation, letting myself get sucked into "Elemental Entities" once more, until Ron decided to pull out a fat grey rat. It was asleep but as soon as I looked at it, it opened its eyes and let out a terrified squeal as soon as its gaze landed on me. It began thrashing in Ron's grip and I bit back a snarl, getting to my feet and grabbing my robes.

"I'm going to get changed." I bit out and hurried out of the compartment, making my way to the bathrooms. I hated rats, and while I wasn't one to hate any sort of animal, rats just disgusted me, especially considering they seemed to have an almost violent reaction to me.

I changed quickly and eyed my reflection in the small mirror critically. My hair was sticking out of my braid at random spots and I huffed, undoing the braid quickly and combing my hair with my fingers. My braid had been in since the night before so thankfully my usually rebellious curls were tamed into more of a wave. The dark auburn mane of mine fell to my waist and I huffed, pulling it into a ponytail and holding it up with my hand, turning to the side to look at my neck.

The strange brand still stood out starkly from under my jaw and I gave a small sigh of annoyance. From my reading of "Dark Wizards and Witches Through the Ages" I knew that it was relatively common knowledge that I too had been marked by Voldemort but years of habit left me more comfortable in concealing the mark. I was admittedly jealous of the placement of Harry's scar, he could cover it with his fringe, whereas mine was a little more difficult. I raised my thick eyebrows as I peered at the corners of my eyes, making sure there was no trace of sleep in them as I tied off my newly wound braid.

Satisfied, I left the bathroom and continued making my way down the hallway, sneering at the toad that had come hopping towards when it halted and did a one-eighty, fleeing from me instantly.

"Hello again."

It was the boy from the book shop, already dressed in his school robes and leaning casually against the doorframe to the compartment he was occupying.

"Hello." I greeted and offered him a small smile.

"Care to join?" he offered, stepping back and holding out his hand towards the compartment.

"I would but my brother –" I began but paused thoughtfully. In all honesty my brother seemed pretty comfortable in the company of Ron and it would be rather rude to run off again.

"I would love to, thank you." I replied and he grinned, stepping back to allow me entry to the compartment. Another boy sat in the compartment, staring out the window. He had sandy brown hair, which was combed into a neat side parting but given that he was turned away, I couldn't make out much else.

"We were interrupted in our last attempt at introductions so I believe we should try it again," the boy said lightly. "My name is Blaise Zabini, this is Theodore Nott."

The sandy haired boy turned to appraise me with water-blue eyes and nodded to me, turning in his seat so that he could face me instead of returning to his landscape gazing.

"It's nice to meet you, my name is Althea Potter but please call me Thea." I replied and both boys blinked in surprise.

"Potter, you say?" Theodore spoke up, eying me critically and I pursed my lips.

"Yes, I know, Potter as in Harry Potter's sister." I retorted and Blaise chuckled.

"Interesting," he murmured and I cast a small glare towards him.

"You seem to be rather fond of that word." I sniped, referring to our previous conversation and he inclined his head in acknowledgement.

"Merely an observation," he replied and I gave him a small smile, rolling my eyes.

"Please, have a seat."

I turned in surprise to Theodore, he hadn't seemed overly welcoming to begin with but I didn't hesitate to sit in the offered seat opposite him. Blaise soon sat in beside him, sitting in a very poised and yet somehow relaxed position.

"So what House do you think you'll be in?" Theodore asked and shook my head, playing with the tail of my braid.

"I don't know." I replied and it was true. Hagrid had told us about the different Houses when we had been having lunch in the Leaky Cauldron but he had been somewhat biased, being a former Gryffindor himself and pressing that both our parents had come from Gryffindor. I had nothing against the House but it seemed like he was overselling it in a manner.

"Perhaps Ravenclaw," I offered although I wasn't sure if I would fit in amongst them either. "What of yourselves?"

"Slytherin," Blaise replied, "Most of my family have been but Ravenclaw would be acceptable."

"And you Theodore?" I asked and the boy cringed slightly.

"Theo, if you please, or Nott," he requested. "Slytherin, my whole family has been Slytherin for generations."

"Anything off the trolley dears?" an older feminine voice called from the doorway as she pulled up with an absolute smorgasbord of sweets and chocolates.

"Wow." I murmured and Theo eyed me curiously.

"Ah of course," Blaise chuckled. "Muggle-raised. You'll want to try some of these."

I ended up buying a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, some Chocolate Frogs, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum and a sizeable red lollipop. I popped the red lollipop into my mouth and happily sucked on it as I read the packaging on the Beans. The lollipop was strange, almost metallic but it was sort of sweet and tangy. I wasn't overly fond of it but I found that after a while I acquired a taste for it and began to thoroughly enjoy it.

"You do realise that's a Blood Pop?" Theo commented and I glanced at him.

"Really? So it turns your mouth red?" I asked and he shook his head slowly. The penny dropped and my eyes went wide as I pulled the red lollipop out of my mouth and stared at it, suddenly nauseous.

"You mean... literally a Blood Pop?" I asked and Theo nodded.

"It's made from blood?" I asked slowly, trying to process.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure about that," Blaise replied, "I mean it's definitely blood _flavoured_ but I doubt it's actual blood."

Deciding that I had been enjoying it up until I realised what it was I figured no harm would come from finishing it and popped it back into my mouth, earning a chuckle from Blaise.

"It's not unheard of for some people to like them but I didn't expect it of you."

I rolled my eyes and bit down on the lollipop, finishing it swiftly and eagerly picking up the Beans and opening them.

"Let me guess, they mean _every_ flavour." I said knowingly and Theo nodded.

"The worst I've had has been sour milk. I haven't used milk since."

My eyes went wide and I placed the box back on the table, reaching for a Chocolate Frog instead as Blaise sucked on a Sugar Quill as he pored over his Potions text. Theo on the other hand was watching me in amusement and I passed him a Frog before shoving one towards Blaise.

"Are these real frogs?" I asked nervously and Theo snickered.

"They've only got about one good jump, once you bite them it stops."

I found wizarding sweets to have a strange sense of humour to say the least as I opened my Frog and snatched it out of the air as it made a leap for freedom. I watched Theo do the same, promptly biting the frog's head off and pulling out a small card from it.

"You get a famous witch or wizard card in every one," he explained. "See, I've got Merlin here."

I beamed as the old wizard eyed me and gave me a small wink and waved at him before ending my frog's struggle and pulling out my own card. A man with a mane of silver hair and a long beard eyed me with grey eyes and I smiled.

"Salazar Slytherin." I murmured and the Founder merely jutted his chin out, stroking the snake that sat on his shoulders. "One of the four celebrated Founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Salazar Slytherin was one of the first recorded Parselmouths, an accomplished Legilimens, and a notorious champion of pure-blood supremacy."

I looked back to see he had disappeared, which led to poor Theo having to explain the finer workings of pictures and portraits in the wizarding world. Blaise through in his two cents every now and again but we soon faded into silence, all of us comfortably reading from our books or drifting into a doze in Theo's case.

The sky slowly darkened and I could see some lights in the distance in the otherwise purely dark horizon. "I think we're almost there."

Blaise hummed from behind his book and Theo blinked, exhaling a long sigh from his nose as he stretched and sat up straight once more, nodding to me.

"I suppose I should find my brother." I murmured as I got to my feet and Blaise finally peeled his eyes away from his book.

"You could wait until we get to the platform," he suggested. "Looks to be getting a bit crowded out there."

He was referring to the people that had left it very late to be changing into their robes and were no hurrying up and down the hallways as the train began to slowly pull into the station.

"Fair point." I acknowledged and sat back into my seat, patiently waiting for the train to stop as Theo pulled a comb out of his pocket and begin fixing his already pristine looking hair. I schooled my face quickly so as not to let him see the laugh I was desperately trying to hold back. I quickly turned my attention to myself and secure my braid that bit closer to my neck before tightening my tie and deeming my appearance satisfactory.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" Hagrid's familiar voice boomed loudly as I followed Blaise off the train, smiling at him as he offered me a hand down from the step.

"Hagrid!" I called delightedly and waved at him excitedly.

"Alrigh' Alti?" he asked and I grinned up at him.

"Never better." I replied and he nodded happily.

"Alrigh' firs' years follow me this way. This way to the boats!"

I walked with both Blaise and Theo down to the lakeside, marvelling at the rowing boats, which had no oars, only a single lantern at the bow. Theo got into one boat and helped me into the seat beside him, while Blaise followed, helping a girl with glossy chocolate coloured hair into the boat beside him.

"Zabini, Nott," the girl nodded to both boys in turn before scrutinising me curiously. I mirrored the expression right back, slowly dragging my eyes down her frame in a show of superiority. She sniffed once and nodded at me, to which I returned.

"Daphne Greengrass," she introduced and I gave her a small smile.

"Althea Potter."

I had to give her credit, her noticeably deep blue eyes merely widened a fraction before she adopted and almost bored looking expression as she folded her hands neatly on her lap.

"Are you really?" she asked rhetorically and the boats lurched forward upon Hagrid's command.

The lake itself, while completely black in the night, was calm and the boats rocked gently as they moved of their own accord across the lake. I looked up at what looked to be a great mountain only to realise that it was the majestic castle of Hogwarts perched atop the great rock, innumerable towers and turrets reaching up into the stars.

We came to a halt in some kind of underground harbour after passing into the cliff through a curtain of ivy that had concealed it effectively. I clambered out on to the pebbles and hurriedly followed after Hagrid as he led the group up a long flight of stairs that eventually brought us out on to a patch of grass in the shadow of the great castle. Up another flight of stone steps and we were finally standing outside a set of a huge wooden oak door. Hagrid raised one giant fist and knocked steadily three times on the castle door.

The door swung open almost instantly, revealing a witch in emerald green robes, a pointed black hat on top of hair that was pulled into a tight bun. She wore a stern expression and I instantly felt that she was not someone I wanted to get on the bad side of.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall." Hagrid announced.

"Thank you Hagrid," McGonagall replied. "I'll take them from here."

She turned instantly and led us into a great Entrance Hall that was so big it could have easily held the Dursley's house. The halls were lit with flaming torches, much like the ones in Gringotts and the ceiling was so high up I couldn't even see it as we ascended a gleaming marble staircase. We were led across the stone flagged floor until we came to a halt outside a set of double doors before McGonagall turned to face us.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she greeted. "Now, in a few moments, you will pass through these doors and join your classmates. But before you can take your seats you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Now, while you are here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you house points. Any rule breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup –"

"Trevor!" a pudgy round-faced boy suddenly exclaimed and he surged forward to pick up the toad that sat just on the step before McGonagall. She gave him and unimpressed look to which the boy gulped fearfully and apologised before hurrying back to the rest of our group, clinging to his toad.

"The Sorting Ceremony will begin momentarily." McGonagall concluded and moved away, leaving us to talk amongst ourselves.

"Thea!" Harry exclaimed as he hurried towards me, Ron in tow. "Where were you?"

"I was talking to some year-mates," I replied. "I assumed you wouldn't mind."

"Mind? No of course not, I was just worried." Harry replied and I shrugged before turning to indicate the two boys.

"I was fine, I was with Blaise and Theo." I replied. "Oh, Harry, I tried this lollipop and I thought it tasted rather strange and it turned out it was–"

"Blaise?" Ron suddenly snorted. "What sort of name is that?"

I turned to him slowly and narrowed my eyes dangerously at him. I tolerated the boy at the moment because my brother seemed to like him, I, on the other hand, had little patience for him.

"Was I talking to you?" I bit out and he frowned at me.

"I'm just saying–" Ron began snidely.

"Well maybe you should think first instead of _saying_ the first stupid thing that pops into your head." I snapped at him and Harry turned to me, a disapproving frown on his face.

"Thea," he scolded and I scoffed, folding my arms.

"What? How would he like if I made fun of his name?" I asked and Ron frowned.

"Not much to make fun of really, I mean Ron is pretty normal."

I turned away from the redhead and moved back over to stand beside Blaise and Theo, leaving Harry looking... hurt? I huffed and gave him a beseeching look and he nodded, albeit sadly as McGonagall returned and eyed us all critically.

"We're ready for you now."

The double doors opened slowly and McGonagall led us into another hall that hosted four long tables that sat under different colour banners. Hundreds of faces turned to stare at us from their seats as we walked up the length of the hall.

"It's bewitched to look like the night sky," an entitled voice said from in front of me. "I read about it in Hogwarts, a History."

Well so did I but you don't hear me spouting of what I know like a bloody know-it-all do you?

We reached the Head Table and I got my first look at Headmaster Albus Dumbledore as he sat in the middle of the table, wearing a set of the most eccentrically coloured robes I'd ever seen. I was trying to think of a colour that he _wasn't_ wearing.

"Now," McGonagall called as she placed a ratty looking conical hat on a stool. "When I call your name you will come up here, I shall place the Sorting Hat on your head, and you will be Sorted into your Houses."

The Hat suddenly moved, a seam opening in a mouth like shape as the Hat and two creases formed in a mockery of eyes as it began to _sing._

 _"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,_

 _But don't judge on what you see,_

 _I'll eat myself if you can find_

 _A smarter hat than me._

 _You can keep your bowlers black,_

 _Your top hats sleek and tall,_

 _For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

 _And I can cap them all._

 _There's nothing hidden in your head_

 _The Sorting Hat can't see,_

 _So try me on and I will tell you_

 _Where you ought to be._

 _You might belong in Gryffindor,_

 _Where dwell the brave at heart,_

 _Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

 _Set Gryffindors apart;_

 _You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

 _Where they are just and loyal,_

 _Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

 _And unafraid of toil;_

 _Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

 _if you've a ready mind,_

 _Where those of wit and learning,_

 _Will always find their kind;_

 _Or perhaps in Slytherin_

 _You'll make your real friends,_

 _Those cunning folks use any means_

 _To achieve their ends._

 _So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

 _And don't get in a flap!_

 _You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

 _For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

* * *

The Hall broke out in applause and I clapped along with some of my fellow first years as McGonagall stepped forward and read the first name off her list.

"Abbot, Hannah!"

I watched as a nervous looking blonde girl walked forwards and sat on the stool, where McGonagall placed the hat on her head.

A few moments later the Hat opened its 'mouth' again. "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The table sitting under yellow banners with badgers depicted on them burst into applause at their new member and I watched as the blonde hurried down, her cheeks flushed.

"Bones, Susan." The ginger haired girl went to Hufflepuff as well, her cheeks also alight with colour.

Must be a Hufflepuff thing, I mused before gulping and praying that I managed to keep my cheeks from reddening when it came to me.

"Boot, Terry." He became the first new Ravenclaw, welcomed eagerly by the blue eagles while "Brown, Lavender," was welcomed eagerly to the red and gold Gryffindors .

On and on it went with that smart-mouth girl "Granger, Hermione," joining the Gryffindors followed by "Greengrass, Daphne" heading to Slytherin.

"Malfoy, Draco." The blonde boy barely had the hat touch his head before it was yelling out Slytherin. I watched as Theo joined him there not a few moments later.

Then, "Potter, Harry."

Mutters and whispers sounded from across the hall, people looking around in awe as my brother stepped up and sat down, the Hat practically covering his eyes. It seemed to take forever and I watched as Harry's lips moved minutely, muttering the same thing over and over again.

"Not Slytherin, not Slytherin."

"Better be... GRYFFINDOR!" the Hat finally shouted and the red and gold table erupted in a joyous chorus with the Weasley twins chanting loudly, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"

I saw Harry beam up at me from his new position at the table and I nodded before turning back to face the head table, just in time to see the headmaster raise his goblet to Harry.

"Potter, Althea!" McGonagall shouted when the clamour began to subside and I made my way up to the stool, turning to face the now silent hall as the Hat covered my eyes.

"Well, what have we here?" the Hat chuckled softly. "It looks to me like you and your brother are not so alike as you seem."

"Gryffindor, please put me with my brother." I thought frantically and the Hat scoffed.

"You Potters are rather demanding this generation," the Hat scoffed. "However, in this case, you would not benefit in Gryffindor as he would. You do not have the kindness and loyalty of a Hufflepuff, yours must be earned. You are clever but more to the point of cunning, so Ravenclaw would do little for you. Just as Gryffindor's chivalry and bravery would be opposing for you. Not to say you are incapable of bravery but we both know that you will take the safest option if possible. You are a strategist, ambitious, of the opinion that the ends may justify the means. All traits that will be welcomed in–" "Don't you DARE!" – "SLYTHERIN!"

* * *

 **There you have it everyone, the newest chapter has seen Thea making some new friends and also finding herself separated from Harry. The next chapter will include the feast and some new interactions. Thank you to all of you who have taken time to read my fic. I do hope you'll leave a review, even if it's just to say "Good", "Bad" or "Ugly".**

 **The next chapter may take a while to go up, so I hope you'll remain patient with me.**

 **I have also realised that I have neglected to put a disclaimer on this story (which I don't feel is relevant considering this is _fanfiction_ ) so...**

 **I do not own or claim to own any part of the Harry Potter franchise, I am merely an enamoured fan looking to put her own twist on a legendary series that was written by (ALL HAIL THE QUEEN) J. . I own my OC Althea but that is it. The Sorting Hat's Song is the one from The Philosopher's stone.  
**

 **Thank you again fair readers,**

 **-Fox.**


	6. Chapter 6

Silence.

There was complete and utter silence until some soft clapping began coming from the Slytherin table which soon gave way to louder and more appreciative applause as I stood and glanced at McGonagall. She looked somewhat disappointed and I quickly moved towards the table, smiling as Theo shifted down slightly to make space for me to sit beside him.

"Now that I didn't expect." Theo murmured as I settled into my seat and I scoffed.

"You and me both." I replied, turning to glance up at the head table. The headmaster regarded me with a furrowed brow before turning back to see Lisa Turpin become a Ravenclaw. Obviously he had expected me to join my brother in Gryffindor, well I had expected to as well.

"Harry," I suddenly murmured and turned to try and see my brother. He was watching as Ron got sorted and cheered happily when his friend joined him in Gryffindor. Finally he seemed to sense my gaze and turned to look at me, confusion shining in his eyes. I gave him a small shrug and he frowned sadly before Ron engaged him in conversation and I turned back to see the final sorting.

"Zabini, Blaise."

"Slytherin!" the Hat crowed and I cheered, clapping happily as he made his way over and slid in on my other side.

"There's a lot more to you than meets the eye isn't there?" he teased and I snorted softly. I was still trying to process my placement myself. Harry had been put in Gryffindor and the Hat had placed me in what seemed to be its rival house. Why? Were Harry and I truly so different from each other? I only ever wanted the best for him, to be there for him and keep him safe. Could I do that from Slytherin?

"How does a Potter end up in Slytherin?" a deep voice demanded and I turned to eye the dark-haired Slytherin that seriously needed to consider orthodontic treatment. Other than that small detail, I had to admit he was the burliest looking teenager I'd ever seen, his broad shoulders were something to marvel at indeed. He was intimidating without a doubt, but I didn't care for his demanding tone.

"From what I've gathered, it appears we have the Sorting Hat placed on our heads and it shouts Slytherin." I replied snidely, my mood souring and the boy scoffed.

"Careful Potter," the boy warned me and I stared at him, I'd wager he was a fifth or sixth year judging by his looks but I couldn't help but focus on the sole fact that he was huge, mostly thick muscle and even sitting, he towered above most of the people around him. I took great pleasure in imagining how Dudley would react to meeting this brute.

"There has never been a Potter in Slytherin."

Now that caught my attention and I frowned up at the burly boy sitting across from me. "Hasn't there?"

He snorted. "Course not, Potters are as known for Gryffindors as the Flints are for Slytherin."

"Flints?" I questioned and he sneered down at me.

"My family. Marcus Flint."

"Thea Potter." I replied and the boy snorted.

"I had no idea."

There was a clinking of cutlery against a glass goblet and the Hall fell silent, the students turning to look up at the head table where Dumbledore stood up to address everyone.

"I have a few start of term notices I wish to announce. The first years please note that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker, Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that the 3rd floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death. Thank you."

"Is he serious?" I muttered to Theo and he shrugged in response.

"I've always heard he was mad."

"Father always did say Dumbledore was the worst thing that ever happened to this school," a boy with slicked back white-blonde hair –that I was having trouble believing wasn't bleached– commented snidely.

"Why?" I asked and the boy sneered at me.

"Because Potter, my father is on the Board of Governors for this school," the boy replied, as if that statement alone explained everything.

"And who is your father?" I asked curiously, only for Blaise to snort before trying to cover it up with a cough. I then noticed many of my year mates, even the ones I didn't know, were staring at me like I had just announced I was a boy.

"What?" I asked when the continued to stare and the blonde boy seemed to be too insulted to give me an answer. "You'll forgive my ignorance but I didn't grow up like the rest of you did I?"

"That is fair." Blaise acknowledged and the blonde boy sneered at him.

"What is that supposed to mean?" a haughty looking girl with a slightly pug-like face demanded.

"You know what?" I grumbled, fast losing my patience with them. "I refuse to answer anyone until they start by giving me their names. You all know mine, it's only fair."

The pug-girl wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Pansy Parkinson. So what does that mean, you didn't grow up like us?"

"Well, I was Muggle-raised wasn't I?" I retorted and Parkinson instantly looked like she'd smelt Dudley's socks.

"Ahem!" Dumbledore stood again, raising his hands. "Let the feast begin!"

Nothing could have prepared me for the sheer mountain of food that appeared before me. Years of scrambling to get enough food to get by, a tin of beans, cold canned soup and smuggled cereal or granola bars when I managed to swipe them... I couldn't move to touch the food before me. It was so much; mountains of mashed potatoes, racks of lamb, half chickens, glazed ham, glistening trays of steaming vegetables. It was only when my vision began to blur that I realised I was crying. I quickly turned my face away and looked over at my brother. He looked just as flabbergasted as I did, his eyes alight with wonder as everyone around him tucked in. He smiled widely and reached for the peas, spooning them on to his plate happily.

"Not hungry?"

I turned back to the table after hurriedly wiping my eyes and glanced over to see Daphne Greengrass addressing me, a frown furrowing her brow.

"Actually, I'm starving." I replied with a smile and began spooning small amounts of food on to my plate.

My taste buds sang in rejoice as I ate a forkful of spinach, the taste of warm fresh vegetables was comparable to ambrosia considering my less than appetising past meals. There were carrots, honey roasted parsnips and sweet potatoes (which ranked as a favourite), crunchy roast potatoes, green beans, firm broccoli and cauliflower, bacon roasted sprouts... it was indescribably delicious. I was so involved with my love affair with the vegetables, I almost forgot to try any meat until Daphne enquired if I was a vegetarian. Replying in the negative to her question, I reached for a piece of white fish and upon further inspection deemed that it was hake, a meatier sort of white fish. It was rather funny really. I knew and could probably cook every dish within reach but had never even tasted them before, yet here I was surrounded by more food now than I had probably eaten in my entire life. Were I not so grateful and satisfied I probably would have felt far more disgusted at that thought.

"To whoever made that meal, I'm eternally grateful." I murmured lazily, the rare feeling of a full body had left me drowsy and blissful, probably the most agreeable mood I was going to be in for the next while.

Desserts soon took the place of the dinner foods and once again I couldn't help but marvel at the variety. Pies of all shapes and fillings were spread out across the table, mountains of balled ice-cream that showed no sign of melting and various chocolate drizzled treats. I had a small helping of a custard tart that had a layer of fresh raspberries atop it as well as two chocolate covered strawberries, finishing it off with a small cup of tea.

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone get as much enjoyment from a meal as you just did."

I glanced over at the blonde girl sitting beside Daphne and inclined my head briefly as I drained my teacup. She didn't seem to mean it snidely, if anything her tone brooked no sentiment, merely sounding indifferent, as though she were merely stating a fact. Which she was, I granted her that and gave her a slight smile.

"It was the grandest meal I have ever eaten." I replied.

"Is that so?" Daphne asked and I nodded earnestly. "Why is that? Your Muggle guardians were incapable of providing decent food?"

I knew that this was neither the time nor the place to speak about the Dursleys. After all, anything I said would be filed away and could be used against Harry, something I refused to entertain thoughts of. Instead I settled for answering as diplomatically as possible.

"I doubt many meals could measure up to the standards of a meal such as this." I spoke genially, a small smile on my face while I hoped Daphne would drop the subject.

She did, but the furrow of her brows told me that it wouldn't be long until she would try to extract some titbits of information from me again. I had been lucky today but I had to resign myself to what lay ahead. I had read enough to know that Slytherin housed those of high ambition and cunning, therefore I knew that information would indeed be the currency of the realm. Knowing the right piece of information or giving the wrong piece could be the difference between a steady passage or a treacherous crusade in this House.

I already had enough to worry about, given that my brother was in Gryffindor, which any Muggleborn who had picked up a book would know was the arch-rival of Slytherin. I knew my brother wouldn't be one to let something so trivial get in the way of our relationship but it would admittedly make things difficult. I idly wondered if I would even be able to sleep tonight, it would be the first time that Harry wouldn't be beside me. My full belly suddenly felt more uncomfortable than pleasant as I glanced over to see my brother chatting animatedly with Ron and two other boys. He looked happy, and I was grateful for that, he needed friends. However he also needed someone to watch his back, to filter out those who would simply befriend the Boy-Who-Lived as opposed to Harry himself.

Harry looked up at the Head table, scanning it from right to left only to suddenly clasp his hand over his scar with a wince and I instantly snapped my head towards the table, noticing one teacher staring at him. The man had raven-coloured hair that fell to the tops of his shoulders – it looked somewhat greasy really – and the shade only emphasised how pale the man's skin was. He had striking features, particularly his nose – which was almost hook-like – which gave him a sort of avian look, like a crow. His robes matched his hair and his dark eyes were fixed on my brother, who was still rubbing at his scar while talking to the oldest Weasley, Perry or something.

Then the man seemed to notice my scrutiny and he turned sharply, his dark gaze locking on to mine and boring into me mercilessly. I couldn't help but wilt slightly, for that gaze held no softness, it conveyed an abhorrence that one would only see in the eyes of someone they had wronged terribly. Yet I knew neither I nor my brother had met this man before. He was a stranger, an unfamiliar face amongst a myriad of other strangers, and yet he looked at my brother with a loathing that couldn't be anything but personal. I tilted my head slightly, trying to hide my disconcertion and the man blinked, his eyes narrowing marginally and it was if he was looking at and somehow through me. I couldn't explain it. Then he blinked and turned away, leaving me nonplussed as I let my gaze drift to another set of eyes that were trained on me.

Professor Quirrel had the sort of stare that I didn't want fixed on me, it was almost blank, like there was no life, no spark under the surface. As though his face had been carved to resemble a statue, set in one fixed state, an expression of apathy. It was an expression that did not match the seemingly fearful man with the stutter that had introduced himself in Diagon Alley. He unnerved me and I set my face in the most innocently curious manner I could muster, even going so far as to give him an expression of recognition and a brief smile before turning back to my house-mates and resisting the urge to look back at the Head table.

* * *

We were led to the Dungeons after an awful rendition of a school song that seemed to go to the air of "Whatever The First Song That Pops Into Your Head", and after much meandering through stone corridors – most of which looked exactly the same as the other – we came to a halt outside a very plain looking stone wall.

"This is the entrance to the Slytherin Common room," the Prefect announced as she indicated the wall. "Simply say the password and you can enter. The password is _Lamia._ "

As she voiced the password, the wall slid aside smoothly, revealing a sort of dark tunnel that appeared to have a flickering green light at the other end.

"Follow me."

We scurried after the stern looking Prefect and I stared in utter fascination at my new surroundings. The Common Room itself was a rather dungeon-like room with greenish lamps and chairs. It was clear to see that it extended partway under the Black Lake itself, further adding to the green tinge of the room and cast ripples of light along the walls. There were numerous low backed black and dark green button-tufted, leather sofas and dark wood cupboards and bookshelves lined the walls, some with different shaped skulls sitting on them. The walls were also decorated with tapestries that depicted medieval characters that I assumed were former Slytherins. It had a very regal sort of atmosphere, albeit a cold one.

"Gather round!" the Prefect barked as she stood near a notice board that hung on a wall between two sets of staircases.

"For those of you who don't know already, my name is Gemma Farley. Before you go to your dormitories there are a few rules that need to be discussed."

She spoke with authority and I watched as my year-mates stood quietly and respectfully, waiting for her to proceed.

"Firstly the password will change every fortnight, you'll find the new one here on the notice board. You do not give out the password to our Common Room to anyone, is that understood?" she barked and we all nodded. "You also do not bring outsiders into our Common Room. It has been almost seven centuries since a non-Slytherin has entered the Snake Den. I trust you not to disgrace that tradition."

When no-one dared dispute she nodded and continued on. "I will tell you this now before you find out the hard way. Slytherin, while being an ancient and noble House, is rarely viewed as such by any but its inhabitants. You will soon find that outside these walls you cannot rely on any but your fellow Snakes. Thus you are to provide a united front against all others. Any disputes or wrongdoings are to be addressed behind these walls. If you show the outsiders that you are a fractured wall, they will attack your weakest points and decimate you."

What in the nine circles of hell was this girl on about? She made it sound like we were gearing up for seven years of battle, not school!

"Do not wander alone in the corridors." Gemma warned. "The Dungeon corridors are a relatively safe zone but until you can traverse them easily, you do not travel alone. A lone Slytherin is a prime target for hexes and curses and believe me, Gryffindors in particular will not hesitate. There is also a curfew, you must be back in the Common Room by 10:00pm every night. Has that sunk in?"

We nodded, some voicing their affirmations as Gemma scanned her group of first-years critically.

"Your class schedules will be handed out tomorrow morning by your Head of House, Professor Snape. He is the Potions Master in this school and I strongly advise that you do not get on his nerves. Professor Snape has no time for stupidity so make sure you are well prepared for your first Potions class," she cautioned. "From the moment you step outside these walls you carry the reputation of our House on your shoulders. Do not stumble."

Everyone voiced their acknowledgement and Gemma nodded once in approval, folding her arms and nodding towards the staircase on either side of her.

"Boys' dorms are to the left, girls, the same on your right. You'll find your trunks have already been placed by your beds. There is no system, wherever your trunk has been placed is your bed. No arguing, no swapping, understood? Good. Now, bed!" Gemma barked and we were quick to obey the sergeant, scurrying to the staircases and to our respective dormitories.

The dormitories were more grand than many high end hotel suites, with large four-poster beds that had silk emerald green hangings for privacy. The bedframes and the posts were a strong dark wood with various depictions of snakes carved into them. Black lanterns sat on each bedside locker, a seemingly self-sustaining flame flickering inside, which drew my attention to the black windows. I realised that I was looking out into the depths of the lake, which felt strange, I was sleeping underwater. The other girls moved to their respective trunks and Pansy gave an irritable huff when she realised that I had been assigned to the bed furthest from the door, beside the largest lake viewing window.

I found myself sharing with Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis and Pansy Parkinson, although Pansy was quite vocal about how she was less than happy with her placement. She was ignored by both myself and Daphne as we opted to go to our trunks and pull out our pyjamas while Tracey attempted to placate the brat.

The bed was the most comfortable bed I could have ever imagined and the sheets were fresh and soft just like the plump pillows. It was like being cocooned in a cloud and I gave a light hum of appreciation before my eyes drifted shut, exhaustion trying to pull me into sleep. As expected I couldn't settle. Years of wishing for a comfortable bed and now that I had one I couldn't sleep. I found myself grimacing unhappily as I lay alone in my bed, my thoughts drifting to my brother. I hoped he was having better luck than I was.

* * *

Green light was just barely beginning to filter into the dormitories when I jerked awake from my minimal amount of sleep and I glanced around, wondering what time it was. Assuming my body was automatically waking as it did every morning around six, I estimated it was around that time and I stretched tiredly.

I figured a shower was my best bet in waking up fully and I wandered into the bathroom, staring in amazement at the layout. One side of the bathroom had its entire wall fitted with a mirror while four showers that were closed off from each other with frosted glass lined the other wall. Further down were the toilet cubicles and hand-washing sinks. Piles of soft and warm towels sat on the small table near the mirror and I grabbed one quickly, peeling off my nightclothes and stepping into one of the shower stalls.

Hot water blasted down on top of me and I gasped in delight at the glorious heat seeping into my muscles and loosening them up considerably. Soap suddenly spilled out of the shower head, dousing me in simple smelling bubbles before they too were washed away. I made a mental note to look into getting some shampoo and conditioner when I got the chance.

I quickly got into my uniform, knotting my now green and silver tie easily before facing the dreaded task of detangling my hair. I had managed to get a new hairbrush from the shop in Little Whinging but it was just a plain sort of bristle brush. Still, I made do and managed to detangle my hair enough to put a Dutch braid into it, pulling at it when I had it tied off to loosen it and in doing so, make it look thicker and provide more coverage for my neck.

The Common Room showed no signs of life other than the lively flames burning in the fireplace, which was a relief because I had no doubt that the Dungeons would be amongst the coldest parts of the castle in the winter months. It was just going on 7:30am according to the clock and I huffed, figuring there would be no harm in wandering out into the corridors. Granted, I could hear the Prefect's warning echoing in my ear, but who would be wandering the dungeon at this hour?

I darted out into the cold hallways, wandering quietly on tiptoe – a habit ingrained solidly from my years with the Dursleys – and found my way to the Entrance Hall with relative ease. It was far brighter and I squinted slightly as my eyes protested the sudden transition from relative darkness to light. Suits of armour guarded the halls and I wandered over interestedly to the four hourglasses that took up a considerable amount of space on the wall.

They were the House Point Hourglasses, one for each of the Houses. Slytherin had emeralds, Gryffindor had rubies, Hufflepuff had topaz and Ravenclaw had sapphires. Each little gem glittered prettily in the sunlight as they all sat in the upper bulbs of the hourglasses, no points having been awarded yet.

I could hear faint voices echoing from the upper hallways and I drew back into the shadowed archway that led to the dungeons, watching as three older Ravenclaw students hurried towards the Great Hall. When they had disappeared I followed them, slipping into the Great Hall and moving over to the empty Slytherin table. There little to no Gryffindors or Hufflepuffs present and other than the three that had passed me earlier, there were only two other Ravenclaws at their table.

Sitting into the side of the table where my back would be to the wall, I jumped as a tea and coffee pot appeared in front of my nose. The rattled invitingly as the floated before me and I gulped.

"Um, I'd like to try the coffee please?" I asked uncertainly and the coffee pot seemed to do a smug sort of wriggle before promptly filling my cup to the brim, while the teapot drifted away dejectedly.

"Thank you." I murmured, questioning the absurdity of my actions. I know had an idea of what Belle felt like in that Beauty and the Beast story that I loved so much.

I reached for my coffee cup, sniffing the aromatic liquid before taking a long draw of it, rolling the taste over my tongue as I swallowed. It was far more bitter than its scent would suggest but it wasn't wholly unpleasant. Upon taking a few more sips, I decided I quite liked it. I had seen Aunt Petunia add both sugar and milk to hers but I found myself preferring it black. Growing up with little to no sweet foods made me somewhat indifferent to sugar, even the desserts I'd gone with last night had been slightly tart. The dark chocolate on the strawberries had been admittedly delicious though, perhaps too much so.

I pulled out my Potions textbook and began skimming through it as I sipped my coffee, my eyes fixing on the post-it notes I'd attached back in Privet Drive. Most of them had questions squiggled on to them that I planned on asking the Potions Professor when I got the chance. I was drawn out of my musings when the sound of cutlery touching a plate came from behind my book. I peered over the top of my book to see a slotted spoon placing a poached egg on a slice of brown soda bread that already had what looked to be avocado spread across it and some mushrooms piled atop it.

"Oh!" I exclaimed in surprise. "Thank you so much."

The utensils wriggled in a sort of wave and drifted away down the table, leaving me to smile down at the beautiful breakfast before me. I grabbed my knife and fork and promptly dug in happily, humming in appreciation once more at the standard of cooking in the castle.

"Delicious." I murmured.

"Potter?" a gruff voice enquired and I looked up to see the burly man-boy that was Marcus Flint glowering down at me.

"Good morning." I greeted carefully as he sat down opposite me.

"Farley's going to skin you alive if she sees you here alone." Flint grunted as he filled a cup of coffee.

I huffed and finished off the last bite of my breakfast. " _If she sees_ _me_ being the key phrase there Flint. I have no intention of her seeing me."

Flint merely sneered at me. "Those rules are there for a reason Potter. Don't wander alone, it's pretty simple."

I felt my cheeks burn as Flint all but glared down at me and I quickly buried my nose back in my Potions book as he dove into a mountain of eggs and beans.

"You're alone." I mumbled and Flint paused in his rapid inhalation of food, to give me the most condescending sneer he could muster. It was quite the sight.

"Have you looked at me Potter?" he demanded. "I'm the Quidditch Captain. They wouldn't dare."

When he put it like that, it made perfect sense... except for one small detail that I couldn't help but give him a confused frown over.

"What's Quidditch?"

Flint, who had returned to his breakfast with gusto, paused with the fork halfway to his parted lips, his eyes zoning in on mine with an expression that suggested I had just committed the height of atrocities.

"Don't even joke about that Potter," he ground out and I leaned back, choosing to hide most of my face in my refilled cup and praying he would stop glaring at me.

"You're bloody serious aren't you?" he demanded hotly. "You've never heard of Quidditch?"

I shook my head and Flint finished chewing slowly, as though he was struggling to process the supposed blasphemy I'd just spouted. Suddenly, I was neck deep in the finer details of Quidditch, with Flint explaining – quite passionately I might add – all the different rules and regulations of the art that was Quidditch. He was in the middle of explaining which balls pertained to which players when an older looking girl sat in beside him.

"Morning Captain," the girl greeted, a teasing lilt to her tone and Flint jerked his chin at her,

"Bletchley."

"I heard 'Quaffle' so I couldn't help but investigate." Bletchley informed us and turned her gaze to me, her brown eyes scrutinising me critically before she turned to Flint. "What's the story?"

"I was explaining Quidditch to Potter here. Never heard of it before this morning." Flint growled and Bletchley's eyes widened.

"Now that's something you don't hear often at this table," she replied in a neutral tone but I couldn't help but narrow my eyes slightly. It sounded like she was purposefully trying not to sound patronising but I wasn't certain.

"What's he told you so far Potter?" she asked before promptly taking over and speaking animatedly about her position as Keeper – which was basically goalkeeper – while Flint took over when it got to talking about the three Chasers. All in all it made for an interesting conversation, albeit somewhat overwhelming. I would have to do a bit of reading.

The remainder of Slytherins trickled in soon after, helping themselves to breakfast in a noticeably quitter manner than the other Houses. The Hufflepuffs seemed altogether too cheerful, the Ravenclaws were already having academic debates and the Gryffindors varied from playful rough-housing to glaring at any Slytherins that caught their gazes.

I couldn't see my brother and I frowned, it wasn't like him to sleep in.

"Potter!" Daphne Greengrass exclaimed as she stalked towards me, he hands set on her hips. "Where were you this morning?"

"I woke up earlier than you lot." I replied simply and she rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Merlin Potter, if that happens you should wake us."

"At six in the morning?" I retorted and she blinked, her eyebrows darting up briefly.

"Maybe not that early, but you could have said something before you left and... Potter," Daphne narrowed her eyes, realisation filling the pretty blue gaze of hers. "Did you come up here _alone_?"

"Uh," I replied intelligently and she reached out swiftly, pinching the inside of my wrist. I yelped, it was surprisingly painful.

"Damn it Greengrass! What was that for?" I snarled and she gave a sharp hiss at me.

"Smile you fool, people are watching."

Narrowing my eyes dangerously at her, I planted on a smile that showed all my teeth, much to her disgust. "Honestly Potter, you're the furthest thing from a Slytherin."

"Am I?" I asked in a bored tone. "I'd reserve judgement until you get to know me better Greengrass."

A light smirk pulled at her lips and she rolled her eyes once again. "Look Potter, you can't do that again. You heard Farley last night, the other Houses will hex you if you're not careful."

I slid up the bench a little to make space for her to sit beside me, pouring her a cup of coffee while picking up my – still magically piping hot – cup. Daphne came across as somewhat cold but I had noticed the genuine concern in her expression when she realised I had wandered the halls alone. Despite numerous bridges that had been decimated in fire over the years, I couldn't help but want to extend a sort of finger of friendship towards her, not so much a hand... yet.

"What happens when I want to see my brother?" I asked and Daphne shook her head sharply.

"Don't even think of it Potter. Gryffindors are bad enough in neutral areas but entering their territory is asking to be put in the Hospital Wing."

I felt my eyes widen despite myself, surely things weren't that bad? "But Harry's my twin brother, of course I'm going to want to be with him, surely people can understand that."

"I'm sure they would," Daphne replied with a sigh, "If you were anything other than a Slytherin."

"That's absurd," I hissed and Daphne gave a tiny shrug as she added a spoon of sugar to her coffee. "Just because I'm a Slytherin doesn't instantly mean I'm evil."

Daphne gave a bitter chuckle. "Oh Potter, if only you knew how much the outsiders disagree. You're a Slytherin, Potter, and if I recall correctly, the first of your name to be so. That snake on your robes and the green and silver tie around your neck are all any outsider needs to see to know everything they need to know about you."

"But that's not fair." I muttered, almost whispering and Daphne sniffed.

"Of course it's not, but why should that matter?"

Her words would stick to me for an admittedly long time, but I didn't realise it at that point. I merely shook my head in response and finished my coffee in silence. It was then that the dark-haired professor from last night came walking down the length of the Slytherin table, handing out sheets of parchment to the first years.

"Greengrass," he acknowledged and handed her a schedule before his gaze locked on mine and his glare intensified. "Potter."

He all but spat my name and I forced myself to remain still as a nervous shiver wracked up my spine.

"Thank you sir." I replied nervously but he swept away like I was a leper.

"Looks like you won't have long to wait to see your brother after all." Daphne commented. "Double Potions first thing with the Gryffindors."

"That professor really doesn't seem to like me." I muttered, watching as he stalked down the hall, his robes whipping out behind him.

"Professor Snape doesn't _like_ anyone."

I turned to the voice in question and eyed the boy that was sitting across from me, eyeing his own schedule curiously. He had predominantly dark features, hair that was a black-brown, eyes that were a chestnut colour and he seemed somewhat more tanned that the typical British fair-skin.

"Is that coming from the voice of experience?" I asked and the boy snorted, his eyes still skimming the schedule.

"Naturally, I was in the same boat last year."

"So you're a second year?" I asked and the boy nodded before finally putting his schedule into his bag and eyeing me critically.

"Snape tolerates people at best. He's our Head of House though, so he favours us, especially in Potions."

"He's our Potions Professor?" I asked and the boy nodded, his eyebrow rising slightly in confusion.

"You're a Slytherin, you have nothing to worry about."

I inclined my head. "Guess we'll wait and see."

The boy smirked and stood up, hoisting his book bag over his shoulder and grabbing an apple from the bowl on the table, taking a juicy bite as he waggled two free fingers. "See you Potter."

"Yeah, bye –" I balked when I realised he hadn't introduced himself but he was already walking out the doors of the Great Hall, leaving me to stare at the point of exit curiously, while Daphne nudged me with her elbow.

"Like I said, Potions is first, let's get there early."

"Yeah, yeah, let's go." I replied and allowed her to lead me out of the Great Hall and back to the depths of the dungeons. Theo and Blaise soon fell into step with us, with Blaise flanking my right side and nudging me gently with his elbow.

"Did you read over your textbook last night?" he asked and I frowned in confusion. I didn't see why that was necessary but I had read that textbook so many times at this point that I could probably recall whatever he wanted to know. I was lucky in that aspect, I had good retention skills. Still, that was going to be helpful in the more practical side of things. It was all well and good to remember the theory of something, but applying it was a whole other story.

"I'm sure I'll be just fine Blaise, I appreciate the concern." I replied and he arched an eyebrow.

"Just a warning, Professor Snape favours Slytherins, but not if they can't prove to him they deserve it."

"Duly noted." I murmured as we came to a halt outside the Potions classroom. A pit of nervousness was churning in my gut. I knew I wasn't unintelligent but I was still nervous, it was my first class in Hogwarts, a practical class at that. I couldn't be sure if it would just be an introductory class or if we would actually be making a potion today. I was both excited and anxious, although which was more obvious to everyone else would have to remain to be seen.

* * *

 **So that's Chapter Six, I hope you like it and I hope I did the descriptions of Snape and Quirrel justice, I admit I spent quite some time on it. In other news, I got accepted into college as a Mature Student. I start in little over a week and I'm ecstatic, it's a Drama Performance course so wish me luck. Of course, and I hope you'll all forgive me, this may affect updates because I'll be very busy. Please stick with me.**

 **A big thank you to "Zerarose" and "The Excited Hufflepuff-Wannabe Slytherin", I'm delighted and surprised the last line of C5 amused you so much. Thank you so much for your feedback and I can't wait to hear your opinions on this one.**

 **To everyone who followed and favourited, thank you and I hope you'll leave some feedback.**

 **Thank you for your time,**

 **-Fox.**


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